Capes Corebook
Capes Corebook
Capes Corebook
Super Roleplaying
by Tony Lower-Basch
http://www.museoffire.com/Games/
Contents
Chapter 1
Basic
Rules
Intro
Rules Summary
Scenes
Conflicts
Debt
Abilities
11
18
20
26
32
38
Chapter 2
Example
of Play
Training 43
Battle 52
Rescue 64
Chapter 3
assembling
a Character
Intro
Abilities
Drives
Exemplars
67
69
74
75
Contents
Chapter 4
Click
and Lock
79
82
88
94
Chapter 5
Extended
Rules
Non-persons 101
Things 104
Phenomena 108
Situations 110
Chapter 6
Personalizing
the Game
Contents
Chapter 7
Strategies
and Tactics
Tactics
System
Resources
Strategy
123
128
130
135
Chapter 8
Preparing a
Story-Thread
Appendices
Names
Science
Magic
Index
155
157
158
159
Acknowledgements
I could not have begun or continued without the patience of my
wife, Elizabeth. Her ability to hear a dozen "groundbreaking ideas" in
as many hours and still treat each one with the same mixture of
interest and skepticism has been invaluable.
This system is as much the result of the creative and passionate
inventors at the Indie RPG Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com) as it is of any
effort on my part. In particular I owe a great debt to Sydney
Freedberg, Thomas Robertson, and Doug Ruff. Their constant
suggestions and questions have turned this from a collection of
disconnected notions into a functioning system.
And, of course, every game owes a tremendous debt to those
intrepid playtesters who volunteer their services (often over and
over) to be run through the thresher of a half-complete system
working against both itself and its players. Thanks to Jennifer Brinn,
Danny Greenfeld, Seth Brinn, Eric Sedlacek, Sydney Freedberg,
Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Thomas Robertson, Travis Casey and Doug
Ruff for their seemingly limitless stamina for "one more round of
rules changes".
Preface
Roleplaying games, like the one you hold in your hands, have a
mixed pedigree. They are both storytelling and gaming. They
are mutts, not one thing or another but a vigorous, quirky hybrid.
It's no great surprise that so many fans of comic books are also
drawn to roleplaying. Super-hero stories are also a form of
hybrid art. Half high-minded philosophy, half visceral escapism,
the genre has been invented and reinvented for decades.
Serious people with serious concerns have discounted it for all
that time. The argument is that such a hodge-podge of different
goals cannot match the achievements of thoroughbred, unified
art forms like writing and painting.
The point is simple, but is it true?
Preface
Preface
Roleplaying on Purpose
Roleplaying should be fun. And it should be serious. Doing
both at the same time is a challenge, but well worth the effort.
You won't lack for examples from other parts of your life. If you
play on a committed baseball team then you show up on time,
practice hard and play hard. All of that effort is to help you and
your team-mates have fun. Serious fun.
A group playing Capes will benefit tremendously by bringing the
same focus on serious fun to the table. Little things like starting
on time, ending on time, and concentrating on the game rather
than diversions send a subtle but definite signal that everyone is
there to play. They have a purpose.
http://www.museoffire.com/Games/
Head right on over for character sheets to simplify tracking your
many characters, introductory rules-sets to entice your friends to
play with you, and a community of like-minded players with
stories and advice to share.
Chapter 1
Core
Rules
What would you do if you could fly?
If you would stay on the ground for fear that something bad
might happen if you flew, then Capes is not the game for you.
If you would watch sunrises from the stratosphere, have lunch
on the backs of statues forty stories up, and race jet-liners for
the sheer exhileration of speed then you've come to the right
place.
11
Power is Fun...
12
Core Rules
13
14
Core Rules
15
What you'll do
As you play Capes you will try to tell a super-hero story. In fact,
if you've got an idea for a story already worked out in your own
head you should probably try to tell that one.
Here's the catch. Everyone else is trying to tell a story too. You
get to tell what happens when it is your turn to narrate, but when
it is their turn the other players will pursue their own agendas.
And they're probably not trying to tell your story. The greatest
random factor in Capes is always the other players. Your ability
to tell your story will depend on how well you can adjust to their
contributions and incorporate them into the shared story.
Who is in charge?
If you have played roleplaying
games then you've probably met
(and may have been) a Game
Master. The Game Master is a
player vested with authority
over everything in the gameworld except the other player's
characters. They are often also
expected to take the lead in
telling the story.
Capes has no Game Master. The
rights and responsibilities of
that role are shared among the
players. Everyone can narrate
things beyond what their
character does. Everyone is
responsible for telling the
story.
This sharing is
structured by the rules system.
16
Core Rules
17
Capes
Rules
Made
Easy
Scenes
p.20
A new scene is declared by the player to the left of the one who
declared the previous. Starting with that character, going
clockwise, players choose a character to play for free. They may
then buy more characters for a Story Token each.
p.22
Pages
Actions
p.25
Conflicts
p.26
Conflicts start with a die for each side. These start at 1 and change
through play. The highest side controls and narrates the Conflict.
Events
p.28
Goals
Resolving
p.29
p.30
After actions, once again in turn order, players look at the Conflicts
they claimed. If the side they claimed Controls a Conflict then they
Resolve it. Losers get back double the Debt they Staked. Winners
give away their Stakes as Story Tokens to the losing characters.
Claimant matches winning and losing dice and gains an Inspiration
equal to the difference for each pair or excess die.
Resources
Debt: Gained by using Powers, or losing Stakes. Spent to Stake.
Story Tokens: Gained by losing Conflicts. Spent for extra roles and actions.
Inspirations: Gained by winning Conflicts. Spent to increase dice.
Drives/Debt
p.32
STaking
p.36
SPlitting
p.37
Players may evenly split any die they own into dice totaling the
same value. A side may split to as many dice as it has Stakes.
Abilities
p.38
ReactiON
p.40
Any time a roll is accepted, any player (not just the acting one)
may roll that die again by using an Ability of equal or greater value
as a Reaction. No player may React twice on the same action.
Gloating
p.41
Scenes
A new scene is declared by the player to the left of the one who
declared the previous. Starting with that character, going
clockwise, players choose a character to play for free. They may
then buy more characters for a Story Token each.
20
Core Rules
Beth
Chris
Alex
David
21
Pages
At the start of each Page, going clockwise around the table,
players may add Free Conflicts and Claim one side of a Conflict.
They may add or Claim more Conflicts for a Story Token each. In
the same order, they get an action for each of their characters.
Players may then buy more Actions for a Story Token each.
22
Core Rules
Beth
2nd
Chris
3rd
Alex
1st
David
4th
Beth
1st
Chris
2nd
Alex
4th
Overall Order
David
3rd
23
Pages
In the same order, they get an action for each of their characters.
Players may then buy more Actions for a Story Token each.
24
Core Rules
Actions
At any time in their Action a player may spend an Inspiration to
raise a die to the Inspiration's value. Before using an Ability a
player may Stake Debt and Split Dice. One time in their Action
they may either use an Ability or create a Conflict.
25
Conflicts
Conflicts start with a die for each side. These start at 1 and change
through play. The highest side controls and narrates the Conflict.
A Conflict is a situation where things could turn out (at least) two
different ways, and characters are vying to control the outcome.
Index cards with the name of the Conflict on them are used for
tracking them and providing a place to keep the dice. Each
Conflict starts with two dice. Before being rolled the dice don't
represent any particular side. Once someone rolls one, it now
represents their side. Any character that has tried to roll up a
die on a side or roll down a die opposing the side is Allied with
that side until they ally with another side in the same Conflict.
No player may narrate how the Conflict turns out in the story
until they have successfully Resolved 30 the Conflict in the rules.
This is called the "Not Yet" Rule. If a player is about to violate
this rule other players can remind them with a gentle "Not Yet".
Whichever side has the highest total has Control of the Conflict.
This lets them take advantage of the "And Then" Rule. Any
time anything is narrated about the Conflict, the narration must
be finished by someone allied with the Controlling side. If the
character who acted is not on that side then at some point the
player must say "And Then..." and invite a controlling player to
end the narration. That second player narrates what happens
after, that sours earlier efforts and makes the situation worse.
Whenever a player tries to control a Conflict they will narrate
what their character does, and may, if they choose, narrate how
well they succeed. The only limits on what they can narrate are
the rules above. If a player wants their character to lift a
building then they can lift a building. Nobody has to debate with
them whether the building is too heavy, unless it's relevant to a
rule above. Players are free to have their characters do
absolutely anything, but not to achieve absolutely anything.
26
Core Rules
White Control
Tied
27
Events
28
Veto.
Core Rules
29
Resolving
After actions, once again in turn order, players look at the Conflicts
they claimed. If the side they claimed Controls the Conflict then
they Resolve it. Losers get back double the Debt they Staked.
Winners give away their Stakes as Story Tokens to the losing
characters. Claimant matches winning and losing dice and gains
an Inspiration equal to the difference for each pair or excess die.
Note that players may never keep Debt Tokens 32 from one of
their own characters as Story Tokens, even if they also played a
different character on the losing side of the Conflict. 26
If the character who created the Conflict is on the losing side,
and they are being played by someone other than the Resolver
then the first Story Token must go to that player.
In the rare case that no player except the Resolver has a
character allied with any losing side, Story Tokens cannot be
awarded. Instead the Tokens are discarded.
When a losing character must take back Debt, all the Debt they
take back returns to the Drive from which it was Staked.
When the Resolver matches one of their dice against a greater
opposing die, the result is not a negative Inspiration. It is a
positive Inspiration for the opposing character or group. The
Resolver chooses which character on the opposing side
receives the Inspiration. They may award it to themself if they
played characters on both sides of the fight.
Matching exactly equal dice creates no Inspiration.
If a Conflict is tied, and no means is available in the rules to
break the tie in future Pages (i.e. nobody can spend more Debt,
and the dice are all sixes) then it is Deadlocked. Players
collaborate on narrating the resolution of a Deadlocked Conflict.
All Staked Debt (on all sides) is treated as having lost. All dice
are converted to Inspirations directly, without matching.
30
Core Rules
31
Drives/Debt
Debt Tokens go on Drives. Each Drive has a numeric Strength.
If it has more Tokens than Strength it is Overdrawn. At the start
of each Page, for each Overdrawn drive, the player rolls the
highest die the character owns, accepting only lower rolls.
32
Core Rules
33
Heroic Drives
Justice
Truth
Love
Hope
Duty
34
Core Rules
Villainous Drives
Obsession
Pride
Power
Despair
Fear
35
STaking
Players Stake by moving Debt onto Conflicts. Each character may
Stake one Drive per Conflict, no more Debt than Drive Strength.
36
Core Rules
SPlitting
Players may evenly split any die they own into dice totaling the
same value. A side may split to as many dice as it has Stakes.
37
Abilities
A super-ability earns a Debt Token each time it is used. Other
abilities are used only once per Scene, but effect no resources.
Each ability has a cost for using it. It either gives you a Token of
Debt 32 (which can be a good or a bad thing) or the Ability
"Blocks" for the rest of the Scene 20 . Once a Blocking Ability
has been used once in a Scene it cannot, under any
circumstances, be used again. Abilities that give Debt may be
used Page after Page, for more and more Debt, though each
Ability can only be used once on any given Page.
Players can put their Debt in any Drive 32 they want, without
need for justification. A Power need not be used in pursuit of
Justice to put Debt on a Justice drive, for instance.
Abilities
The ability either raises an Inspiration by a point or rolls any one
die on a Conflict. The ability score must be at least the value of
the Inspiration or die. If they roll a Conflict die then they choose
whether to accept the roll or turn the die back to its original value.
The Player may roll any die, on any side of a Conflict. They will
generally accept rolls that raise their dice or lower their enemy's.
Whether the player accepts the die they rolled or not, they
always narrate what happens. The Ability they used must be
central. They can add anything else as well, so long as the one
Ability that they used has a position of importance. The player
can (and often should) tell not only what they're trying to do, but
whether and how they succeed or fail. This will often involve a
response from other characters (if only "Ouch!") The narrator
may choose either to have the player of the effected character
narrate (under the original narrators direction) or to momentarily
take on the role of the character in question themself.
Players have complete freedom to narrate, except where the
Conflict 26 rules override that freedom.
38
Core Rules
39
ReactiON
Any time a roll is accepted, any player (not just the acting one)
may roll that die again by using an Ability of equal or greater value
as a Reaction. No player may React twice on the same action.
40
Core Rules
Gloating
If Resolving would violate the group Code the Claimant instead
Gloats. Starting with their highest die on the Conflict they may turn
dice to 1. For each die turned the Resolver earns a Story Token.
41
Chapter 2
Example
of Play
What does a game of Capes look like, anyway?
Every game will look different. Each group will use the rules to
achieve different goals and tell different stories. But the rules
lend themself to certain patterns and strategies. This chapter
will follow a fictional group of players as they play a few scenes.
43
Spotlight characters
The players decide they would like to each have a
Spotlight Character 119 that is distinctly their own. These
characters are super-heroes, and are expected to be the
main focus of the story.
Alex creates a hero with
the Freeform system. 72
It takes a long time, and
he has to make sure the
character works as a
whole. But he has total
control.
Speedster
Super-speed
Accelerated Reflexes
Rapid recovery
Do many things at once
Faster than the laws of physics
44
Trail of Disruptions
Desperate Effort
Fast enough to try
another plan
79
Example of Play
Crusader
Face down
hypocrites
Inspired
Determined
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Martial Artist
Named techniques
Frustrated
Reckless
Acrobatics
Combat intuition
Precision strikes
Focussed battle aura
Ninja stealth
Improvised weaponry
Intimidate
Brains over brawn
Screw the rules
Psychotic Loner
Furious
Denial
Abrasive
Uncomfortable
Confident
45
Turn Order
2
Alex
Chris
1
Beth
3
46
Heroism
by the
numbers
Example of Play
Superspeed
Superstrength
32
47
22
1
Alex
Chris
3
Beth
2
Alex: Arghh.... and you act last, 127 so you can choose whether
to defend "Get out early" or to rebuke Liberty on authority.
Chris: Poor you. Decisions, decisions. In the meantime, Zip is
cocking his head and looking at Liberty funny. "Yeah," he
agrees, "who did appoint you to be the boss of me, anyway? I
come in, I work out, I save lives, same as you!"
Beth: "You'd think that'd be enough."
Alex: I can see I'd better declare an
action 24 , before you guys totally
double-team me. Captain Liberty
rises quickly, tossing aside the
massive weight as he paces over
toward the other two.
Super38
strength on Assert Authority.
I roll
a two.
Chris: I'm Reacting
with Rapid
Recovery. Zip is intimidated, but
gets over it quickly. Debt 38 in Hope.
I roll a five, which I will not accept.
Back to a two. And then... 26
38
48
Super
strength
Rapid
Recovery
Inspire
Patriotism
Example of Play
Pipe-Staff
Sincere
Desperate
Effort
49
Alex
Chris
2
Beth
1
50
Example of Play
Patriotic
Intimidate
Reacts
40
40
with Patriotic. Oh
Night Maiden
40
51
Crusader
Fast-talk
Inspired
Face down
hypocrites
Determined
Pointed question
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Frustrated
Press Pass
Reckless
52
Example of Play
Joyful
Thrill Junky
Move metal
Become magnetism
The example is written for
a master of magnetism.
With slight modification it
fits those who control Fire,
Ice, Weather, Technology,
Air, Electricity, and so on.
Hotshot
Trap opponent
Force Field
Metal shapes
Control everything
at once
Escape without a
scratch
Unflappable
Indirect action
Talkative
Bored
Rebellious
Inhuman
Massive property
damage
Super-leap
Curious
Misunderstand
humanity
Titanic Punch
Confused
Invulnerability
Logical
Super-strength
Cold
Superior
Alex: Okay, now I'm all curious about why these guys are even
here. I'll pay a Story Token 20 and play another character.
Beth: Captain Liberty?
Alex: Not yet. I'm playing a Situation,
Mystery
111
Mystery.
Obvious Untruth
Apparent Lead
Two facts are connected
Contradiction
Theory proven wrong
Talkative
Desperate
Reluctant
Wary
Evasive
53
1
Alex
Chris
3
Beth
2
134
Interview
Obvious
Untruth
Reluctant
40
to a player,
54
Example of Play
Massive
property
damage
Unflappable
Pointed
question
Alex:
Reacting the four with Liz's
"Pointed Question". "But you plan to kill us either way, right?" I
get a one. Take that!
Chris: I'm not Reacting. Hod bellows "Yes! All who violate
Khuffi's laws must die!"
Alex: And I Resolve 30 "Answers are Revealed"... which we
pretty much just narrated anyway. I subtract the one die from
the four, and it's a three point Inspiration for Liz.
55
3
Alex
Chris
2
Beth
1
Superstrength
Reckless
56
Example of Play
"Answer"
Inspiration
Alex:
"What's more, I've seen the
translation of Khuffi's curse! It falls on
anyone who would steal the Sceptre...
and right now that would include you!
Harrison owns it now! You need to bluff him into giving it to
you!" Rolling your four with Investigation. I get a two!
Beth: I've got first shot at our villainous reaction. "Standish
thought the same way," Black Scarab drawls, "and look where it
got him." He gestures, and clouds of insects rush to every door,
slamming them shut. "Sure you want to follow in his footsteps?"
I'm rolling with "Control Everything at once." I get a three, which
is enough to tie.
Alex: React with Determined. "I say
you're bluffing!" she replies. I roll... a
one.
Investigation
Control
Everything
at once
Determined
Hit 'em
with the
scenery
57
2
Alex
Chris
1
Beth
3
58
Example of Play
Judgmental
Liberty
Shield
Titanic
Punch
Trap
Opponent
Reduced
by Gloat
59
Alex
Chris
Beth
Inspired
Tense
Super
Strength
Cold
60
Example of Play
Blast
of Bugs
Heroism
By the
Numbers
61
Alex
Beth
Chris
2
26
Convenient
Bug Shapes
62
Infectious
Energy
Example of Play
Split a
New Side
Three-way
Split
Great Leverage
from a Tiny
Handhold
63
64
Example of Play
Or, you know, something like that. At best this is a rough plan,
because along the way you'd have other things come up. Does
Khuffi object to Scarab's thoroughly modern sensibilities? Does
Hod feel honor-bound to treat the Captain with respect as a
formidable foe? Those are the considerations that emerge to
make a story come alive.
Or, to be more accurate, those are the considerations that the
players use to take control of the story. In the example so far,
Alex has done a spectacular job of keeping the spotlight trained
on his character. By taking a beating he has consistently given
himself the resources to push his own agenda.
But that time is pretty clearly reaching its end. Both Chris and
Beth have substantially more resources than Alex now. They
have more Story Tokens, more Inspirations and much better
managed Debt.
They may choose to go back to their spotlight characters, Night
Maiden and Zip. Or concentrate on the villains for a while. Or
something else entirely.
The tug-of-war between Captain Liberty and Liz Livingstone
would have been difficult to predict before it happened. In the
same way, unexpected things are likely to come of Beth and
Chris's new power over the story. The only thing that is
predictable is that they will have to emerge and evolve from
where the story is now, and what tensions the players have to
work with.
65
Chapter 3
Assembling
a Character
Characters, their abilities and their concerns, are the
fundamental building block of a Capes story. The game runs on
Conflict, and there is no Conflict that is not between two or more
characters. This chapter will give you an overview of what it
takes to create a character in Capes.
67
68
Assembling a Character
Abilities
Abilities are the things that the character can be or do that will
have an impact on Conflicts, 26 and by extension on the world.
They come in four flavors (though any particular character will
have only three of them): Powers, Skills, Styles and Attitudes.
Powers and Skills are things the character can do, like fly, or
shoot a gun, or integrate mathematical functions. A superpowered character will have only Powers, not Skills. A normal
character will have only Skills, not Powers.
Attitudes are ways the character feels, like happy, or sad, or
scornful. All character will have Attitudes.
Styles are the particular ways that a character often uses their
other Abilities. So they might have "Fly" as a Power, and "High
speed aerial maneuvers" as a Style. Or they might have
"Confident" as an Atttiude and "Screw the rules" as a Style. All
characters will have Styles.
Powers are super-powered. Skills and Attitudes are mundane.
Styles may be either, as the player chooses when they create
the character.
Super-powered Abilities have a different cost for using them
than mundane Abilities 38 . The Abilities should be labelled in a
way that will make clear to you which category they fall into. If
you are using the Click and Lock 80 method then all of the
Abilities in your Power-Set are powered, and all Abilities from a
Persona or Skill-Set are mundane.
69
70
Assembling a Character
71
Freeform Method
Because different Abilities at different levels can all represent
the same character, the system doesn't need complex rules to
govern what you can and cannot pick for Abilities. You pick
whatever you want. This is called the "Freeform" method of
character creation. It still has a few rules, but not many.
A character may have up to twelve abilities in
three categories: Attitudes, Styles and either
Powers (for super-beings) or Skills (for mundane
characters).
No category may have more than five or less
than three abilities.
Within each category, Abilities are numbered
sequentially starting from one. You may have
four abilities at levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. You may not
have four abilities at levels 2, 6, -4 and 37.
72
Assembling a Character
73
Drives
A super-powered character that is going to play an important
role as protagonist or antagonist should have detailed Drives.
To assign these you do the following:
Take five Heroic or Villainous Drives
Assign each a Strength between one and five.
These five numbers must total exactly nine.
For a character filling a bit-part ("super-powered lackey of the
arch-villain") it may not be worth filling out values for different
Drives. Such characters are called Undifferentiated. An
undifferentiated character keeps their Debt in a single stack.
They are overdrawn when they have more than five Tokens in
that stack. They may Stake as many as three tokens on any
one Conflict. Their personalities tend (in play) to be somewhat
one-dimensional.
Drives are not codes of conduct. Two characters with high
values in the same Drive are, in fact, more likely to argue about
it than to agree. Drives are parts of the moral universe that the
character thinks seriously about. They are questions, not
answers.
An anarchist, who has strong opinions about the role of law and
order in society, is just as much invested in the Justice Drive as
a by-the-book stickler for the rules. What the Drive means to a
character is something that players will have to invent and,
often, discover through play.
Drives should have a constant presence in the life of the
character. The best way to assure this is by assigning the Drive
an Exemplar. An Exemplar is another character whose
relationship with the first embodies their issues with the Drive.
74
Assembling a Character
Exemplars
Any character with Drives may choose or create one Exemplar
for free. For a second (or third, or so on) Exemplar, two players
must collaborate on Sharing the Exemplar (see page 77)
There must be a "root conflict" in the relationship between the
character and her Exemplar. This is some fundamental way in
which they are forever at odds. That, in turn, spawns many
trivial, solvable, conflicts. It is often easiest to invent the root
conflict by creating a sentence of the form "This good thing, but
that bad thing." For instance:
Justice: "I respect Lieutenant Gerard, but he thinks I'm a criminal
and wants to put me in prison."
Truth: "Aunt Sylvie is great, but she'd be scared silly if she knew I
risked my life as a super-hero."
Love: "I love Julie, but her family and mine are long-time rivals, and
would never accept our being together."
Hope: "I keep kids like Jimmy safe, but I can never really belong in
their carefree world."
Duty: "Black Snake is a great mentor, but I can never live up to his
expectations."
Obsession: "My research could give my daughter back her sight,
but she fears what my obsession might cost us both."
Pride: "I am superior to Morality Man in every way, but he refuses
to admit it!"
Power: "Doctor Kill is a great man, but he often punishes me
severely for no reason at all."
Despair: "Charles wants me to have hope for the future, but I
cannot forget the atrocities I have seen."
Fear: "My ex-partner Volcanus believes in me, but I don't believe in
myself."
75
Exemplar Conflicts
The idea that these same Conflicts keep arising in slightly
different forms isn't just subjective. It is written into the rules.
Each Exemplar has a permanent Free Conflict attached to their
relationship to the primary character. That Free Conflict can be
played once in any Scene where both characters appear. Either
the player of the character or the player of the Exemplar may
play the Free Conflict. It may be played many times, in many
Scenes, in the same story. Although it must remain the same
Conflict each time, it can be resolved in many different ways.
Later, Firestorm is
captured by villains
and Sparky goes to
the rescue.
Firestorm introduces the same free
Event, and this time the villain Controls
and Resolves it. At a crucial moment,
Firestorm intercedes, holding Sparky
back rather than let him take the risks
that go with being a grown hero, and the
villain escapes.
Distrust is sown
between hero and sidekick.
76
Assembling a Character
Sharing Exemplars
To have more than one Exemplar for their characters, players
need to agree on one they can share. This will require three
characters: Characters A and C related to Character B, and
Character B related to both of them. Character A should have
been made or played mostly by one player, and Character C by
another. Obviously, given the rules, it can be hard to say for
certain which character "belongs" to which player, but the
shared Exemplar relationship should be of interest to both
players.
To construct a shared Exemplar in a hurry, each player can
choose one click and lock module, then combine them. So if
Hero A needs a spunky Love Exemplar he might choose the
Crusader Persona. If Hero C needs a Hope Exemplar who can
stick up for the hero's maligned reputation he might choose the
Journalist Skill-set. Together they make a spunky Crusading
Journalist with connections to both heroes.
The shared Exemplar can represent the same Drive for both
sharing characters. For instance, if she is Love Exemplar for
both characters you have a classic love triangle. Or, the
Exemplar can represent different Drives for the two sharing
characters. For instance, Hero A can have younger sister B as
his Duty Exemplar (since only he can make sure she has a
happy and productive life), while Hero C can have hot young girl
B as his Love Exemplar.
However the relationships pan out, the sharing of an Exemplar
creates a de facto relationship between the sharing characters.
They are vying with each other for influence over and attention
from the Exemplar.
77
Chapter 4
Click and
Lock
So you need Abilities for a character, and you need them in a
hurry. It would take too much time to think over every possibility,
and make up the perfect description for each Ability.
This chapter is made up of lists of partial sets of Abilities. They
can be recombined, and modified to quickly make a variety of
characters off the cuff for immediate inclusion in a scene.
79
80
Choose Powers
Godling
Casually overpower
mortals
Super-strength
Super-speed
Inspire Awe
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Choose Persona
Seducer
Pout
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
Combine
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
"You know you want to"
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
"You know you want to"
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
Number
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
"You know you want to"
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
81
Power Sets
Making a quick super-hero or -villain starts with picking out a
Power Set. Once you've chosen one of these, you'll know what
your character can do and how his super-powers can change
the world.
Power Sets consist of a full assortment of Powers, and half a
set of Styles. All of these (both the Powers and the Styles) are
super-powered, and cost Debt to use.
Any Power Set will benefit from being customized. Looking at
the Gadgeteer, for instance, it's clear what purpose her
Repulsor Beams serve... ranged attack. Replacing those with
Magentic Bolo Launchers serves exactly the same purpose and
lets you put your own distinctive stamp on the character.
82
"Normal" Supers
Some super-beings don't have explicitly 'super-human'
powers at all. They rely on human abilities, honed and
perfected to an inhuman extent.
Gadgeteer
Co-opt enemy systems
Technical Genius
Techno-armor
Repulsor beams
Improvise a gadget
Sensor systems
Flight-pack
Martial Artist
Named techniques
Acrobatics
Combat intuition
Precision strikes
Improvised weaponry
Hunter
Perch in a high place
Tireless stamina
Ensnare
Wrestle
Razor-keen senses
Find weaknesses
83
Internal Powers
Some super-beings have spectacular abilities in terms of
their own body, but have to apply those abilities in the old
fashioned, hands-on way.
Speedster
Super-speed
Accelerated Reflexes
Rapid recovery
Trail of Disruptions
Brick
Super-leap
Titanic Punch
Invulnerability
Super-strength
Great leverage from tiny handhold
Animal Avatar
Surprise Attack
Shark Telepathy
Frenzy
The example is written
up with a shark's teeth
and swimming, but is
easily changed to a
wolverines claws and
tenacity, a hawk's
talons and flight or a
spiders webs and
wallcrawling.
84
Tooth-shaped gouges
Swimming
Shark sense of smell
Ominous Circling
External Powers
Some super-beings have abilities that manifest entirely
outside of themselves, often with no visible connection.
Master of
Natural Force
Trap opponent
Magnetic blast
Move metal
Become magnetism
The example is written for
a master of magnetism.
With slight modification it
fits those who control Fire,
Ice, Weather, Technology,
Air, Electricity, and so on.
Control everything
at once
Force Field
Metal shapes
Mind Reader
Read minds
Indirect action
Project sensations
Ascend to mental plane
Subtle influence
Manipulate memories
Mind control
Magician
Dramatic incantation
Bind forces/things
Wards and shields
Summon forces/things
Mythic resonance
85
Generalists
Some super-beings have a huge array of abilities,
seemingly a new power for any new situation.
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Inspire Awe
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Shapeshifter
Change Shape
Change Size
Change physical state
Robot
Gigantic Size
Surround an area
Armor
Rocket Feet
Computer Brain
86
Massive Property
Damage
Specialists
By contrast, some super-beings have a single ability that
they use in creative ways to address different challenges.
Teleporter
Appear
Appear behind
someone
Disappear
Teleport someone else
Impossible to target
Mimic
Mix and match forms
Imitate Something
Mindset of form
Strengths of form
Camouflage
Shootist
Adapt to changes
Chain reaction
Shoot
Rapid fire
Ricochet Shot
Shoot equipment
Pinpoint accuracy
Extreme range shot
87
Personae
A Persona gives you a set of Attitudes, and the other Styles
needed to fill in the gaps in either a Power-set or Skill-set.
There is a surprising amount of flexibility in what you eliminate
and what order you put Abilities. An Angsty Nice Guy with a
high "Shy" score is a whole different creature (often) from one
with no "Shy", but a high "Wry Humor".
Innocents
These characters are defined by their sincere, open, way of
dealing with the world. They are natural magnets for
heartache and misery.
Ingenue
Miss the subtext
Shocked
Kind
Trusting
Smile lights up
the room
Curious
Confused
Shy
Selfless
Sincere
Desperate Effort
Wry humor
Secretly hurting
88
Walking Wounded
These characters have more defense mechanisms than any
ten normal people. Memory and fear haunt them, and make
it difficult to open up and share themselves with others.
Guilt-Ridden
Brood
Doubtful
Remorseful
Kind
Doubt yourself
Impatient
Distant
Neurotic
Plan ahead
Worst Case
Scenario
Nervous
Apologetic
Desperate
Understanding
Witty
Ex-Victim
Reminders of
the past
Grim
Quiet
Melancholy
Snap without
warning
Untrusting
Angry
89
Idealists
These characters are strong at presenting and defending a
case on principled grounds. They are more comfortable and
effective debating abstracts than expressing their emotions.
Older but Wiser
Understand your
limitations
Insightful
Preachy
Judgmental
Dire Prediction
Ironic
Disappointed
Crusader
Face down
hypocrites
Inspired
Determined
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Frustrated
Reckless
Curmudgeon
Scoff
Honest
Aggressive
Put upon
Brutal realism
Demanding
Sarcastic
90
Action Oriented
These characters prefer deeds to words. They are more
comfortable doing things than discussing them. Indeed,
they can be outright anti-social, with the proper treatment.
Psychotic Loner
Intimidate
Furious
Denial
Abrasive
Uncomfortable
Confident
Hotshot
Thrill Junky
Escape without a
scratch
Joyful
Unflappable
Bored
Rebellious
Talkative
Spunky Kid
Exceed
Expectations
Optimistic
Embarrassed
Childish
Reckless
Decisive
91
Incomplete
These characters have some inner lack that they try to
compensate for in their interaction with others. Frequently
such characters will attach to those who have what they lack.
Sycophant
Toady
Spiteful
Remorseful
Sly
Apologize
Enthused
Nervous
Simple Soul
Simple Solutions
Happy
Sad
Angry
Loving
Slow
Inhuman
Misunderstand
humanity
Curious
Confused
Logical
Cold
Superior
92
Manipulators
These characters have honed their ability to influence other
people. They are comfortable when they are in charge of a
situation, less so when they have to respond to others.
Charmer
Fast-talk
Upset people's
plans
Selfish
Flexible
Reluctant
Confident
Friendly
Puppet Master
Trust your lackeys
Don't trust
your lackeys
Demanding
Forgiving
Stern
Upset
Proud
Seducer
"You know you
want to"
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Pout
Sly
Greedy
93
Skill-Sets
Skill sets represent the mundane skills that non-super
characters use to get through their daily routine.
Because people with common skills often work in groups, a
single "character" (according to the rules) can represent more
than one person in the story. For instance, a gang of thugs
could be run as a single Mook character, or a pack of
papparazzi could be a single Journalist.
On the Streets
These characters are adapted to a mean and often desperate
life on the streets. They can be ideal sources of information for
superheroes in a gritty story.
Homeless
Social invisibility
Scrounge
Accost
Rant
Obsess
Lament
Petty Crook
Deceive
Connections
Information
Run
Wheedle
Hide
Streetwise
94
Positions of Power
These characters are well equipped for influence in the
mundane world. They are accustomed to deference, and
may either help or hinder heroes who need their aid.
C.E.O.
Thrive on stress
Delegate
Glare
Multi-task
Negotiate
Command
Authority
Politician
Pass the buck
Lead
Anticipate
Simplify
Inspire Action
Organize
Weasel
General
Connections
Chain of Command
Command
Strategize
Attack
Call in a favor
Delay
Decide
Diagrams on maps
95
"Freeze!"
Crowd control
Fist-fight
DetectivE
Follow
Notice
Tactics
Regulations
Shoot
Investigate
Dogged persistence
Spook
Resources
Authority
Secrecy
Shoot
Contacts
Intimidate
Deceive
96
Surveillance
Improvised
Weapons
Rough-house
Boast
Obedience
Steal
Outnumber
High-Tech Mook
Armor
Alpha Male
Endanger
innocents
Blast-gun
Jet-pack
Team tactics
Boast
Preparation
Kung Fu Fighter
Rain of Blows
Punch
Kick
Philosophy
Shrug it off
Wire-Fu
Reflexes
Named Styles
97
White Collar
These characters keep the information age running. Apart
from their value to heroes who need information, these
types of skills work wonderfully for Exemplars.
jOURNALIST
Fast-talk
Photograph
Write
Investigate
Pointed question
Interview
Notice
Lawyer
Argue
Press Pass
Books full of
precedent
Advise
Recite
Loopholes
Bargain
Interrogate
Paperwork
Scientist
Propose Theory
Invent
Research
Science
Analyze
Experiment
98
Examine sample
Blue Collar
These characters keep tabs on the regular world of people
and machines. With a solid, simple feel these characters
provide perfect Exemplars, particularly for Hope.
Bartender
Another customer
Insight
Be silent
Serve Alcohol
Clean Glasses
Folk Wisdom
Ask
Grease Monkey
Fix-It
Invent
Improvise
Non-verbal cues
Unnecessary
improvements
Bang it with a
wrench
Analyze
Reverse Engineer
Dock Hand
Camaraderie
Lift
Throw
Seamanship
Rumors
Carouse
Stamina
Machismo
99
Chapter 5
Extended
Rules
Capes is played through the use of characters. Characters can
be compelling, and win the affection of the players. But from the
perspective of the rules system, a non-powered character is no
more than a bundle of Abilities to be tapped. It doesn't matter
whether they're old or young, male or female, human or alien.
In fact, the rules don't require that a character be a person. This
chapter will outline a few of the most common ways that you
can use non-person characters in your stories.
101
Abilities
To play a non-person character, a player has to get away from
thinking that the actions of the character come from their inner
motives. A bomb doesn't have inner motives. It has a place in
the Scene, and things that it does to further the goals of the
player who put it there.
Non-person characters can, however, have Attitudes. As human
beings, we attribute human emotion to many inhuman
processes. A Deathtrap can be eccentric. A computer virus can
be relentless. Luck can be perverse or generous by turns.
Non-person characters have the same type of abilities as a nonpowered human character: Skills, Styles and Attitudes. As
always, the needs and desires of the player are the key to using
those effectively.
As with Click and Lock Modules, part of creating a non-person
character is eliminating the Abilities you like least. If the
character has three columns of Abilities, remove three (not all
from the same column). If it has only two columns, remove two
Abilities. Then number the Abilities in each column according to
how you want to prioritize them.
102
Extended Rules
Character Conflicts
Some non-person characters are tightly bound to a particular
Event or Goal. For instance a Chase has to involve people in
flight and pursuit. In most action genres, the penultimate
moment is when the two participants are neck and neck. So
resolving a "Neck and Neck" Event is the natural story outcome
of introducing a Chase.
When constructing a non-person character, you may choose to
equip it with a Character Conflict, in exchange for removing one
type of Ability, and the four Abilities of that type. A character so
modified will have only two columns of Abilities, and those will
either be distributed four and four, or five and three.
The player may introduce their character's Character Conflict
any time Free Conflicts can normally be introduced. However,
when that Conflict is Resolved, the character is removed from
the scene. The object or situation that it represents in the story
may continue, but it exerts no direct pressure on the dice.
103
Things
Objects are the easiest of the non-person characters. They're
right there, with physical existence (at least in the imaginary
game-world) and behaviors. Some are even self-directed.
There are so many kinds of possible objects that this book
cannot do more than offer a few evocative examples.
Designing and playing characters, even inanimate characters,
is part of the fun of the game.
Space Battleship
Shoot
Massive
Certain
Orbit
Only one
weakness
Grim
Loom
Overkill
Smug
Fighters
Extreme range
Ominous
Shields
Sizzling energy
Violent
Super-Computer
104
Analyze
Patterns
Logical
Search
Rigid
program
Literal
Calculate
Models
Smart
Simulate
Ask for
clarification
Stupid
Plan
Databases
Coy
Extended Rules
Relentless
Hard casing
Ominous
Elaborate wiring
Mocking
Stubborn
Energy surge
Unpredictable
Deathtrap
Needles Elaboration
Clever
Contingency Plans
Spiteful
Peculiar Style
Eccentric
Chain of Events
Teasing
"Tick, Tock"
Arrogant
Capricious
Good Luck
Driven
Distort Perceptions
Spiteful
Entice
Domineering
Bad Dreams
Selfish
105
Locations
Locations are nearly the same as objects, but they are more
likely to have a social context that pulls people into fitting roles.
Because of this, the Attitudes and Styles of a Location are often
expressed through the actions of characters in that location,
rather than through the location itself.
The location can be thought of as adding a new set of Abilities
to the characters there. You can say "Let's split up!" anywhere,
but it has special, genre-specific meaning, in an abandoned
amusement park.
Spooked
Confuse
Relaxed
Surprise
Mirrors
Amused
Lull
Rides
Lost
Disorient
Rickety
Lonely
Church
106
Awe
Doves
Reverent
Shame
Crucifix
Determined
Inspire
Pews
Desperate
Soothe
Candles
Calm
Comfort
Rafters
Afraid
Extended Rules
Ancient Temple
Skulls
Afraid
Chasm
Fascinated
Dead Languages
Greedy
Cocky
Cautious
Volcano
Noxious Fumes
Smoke
Crumble
Shifting shadows
Shake
Honey-combed with
tunnels
Stifle
Bursts of lava
Court Room
Gavel
Outraged
"Order! Order!"
Surprised
Bailiff
Confident
Court Recorder
Crying
Jury
Furious
107
Phenomena
Phenomena are overarching issues that, by player agreement,
are beyond the scope of what the characters are dealing with
right now.
If you want to play a scene where you sneak around in an
oppressed society then you want a phenomenon (Martial Law,
for instance) to represent the troubles of that. If, for a later
scene, you want to lead a rebellion and free the people then you
are dealing with a different question. Then the phenomenon
ceases to be an established feature, and becomes a set of
Conflicts that you can try to change through your actions.
Martial Law
Oppress
Authority
Paranoid
Shoot
Surveillance
Afraid
Betray
Police Presence
Arrogant
Arrest
Silence
Loyal
Threaten
Sirens
Resigned
Orate
Catchphrase
Enthused
Speculate
Snap
Judgment
Worried
Cheer
Headline
Proud
Watch
Arguments
Loyal
Judge
One-sided
Fickle
Public Opinion
108
Extended Rules
Panicked
Transform
Confused
Lie Dormant
Confident
Weaken victim
Distressed
Consume
Frustrated
Unsympathetic
Angry
Opportunity
Resigned
"Of course"
Bitter
Irony
Impatient
Desperate
Panicked
Massive Scale
Fascinated
Moment of Truth
Selfish
Ominous Cracking
Grateful
109
Situations
Situations differ from phenomena in that they are almost entirely
structural. There is no physical reality in the game-world to the
situation. It is a pattern of possibilities and likelihoods that
condition what people can and will do.
The trickiest of the non-person character types, Situations can
help to give form and structure to a story. They can also
confuse the dickens out of people trying to use them. Handle
with care.
Social Function
Mingle
Alcohol
Antsy
Dance
Speeches
Happy
Eat
Three's a crowd
Loud
Talk
A little drunk
Annoying
Posute
The kitchen
Shy
Sneak
Alcove
Tense
Hide
Inching
Closer
Patient
Search
"Shhhh!"
Curious
Notice
Something
makes noise
Rushed
Overhear
Distraction
Relieved
Sneaking
110
Extended Rules
Obstacle
Swerve
Technical Difficulties
Improvise
Straightaway
Skid
Narrow Confines
Lose Control
New terrain
Nostalgic
Anachronism
Frustrated
Foreknowledge
Confused
Ignore taboos
Amused
Incredulous
Mystery
Obvious Untruth
Talkative
Apparent Lead
Desperate
Reluctant
Contradiction
Wary
Evasive
111
Chapter 6
Personalizing
the Game
There are things players agree to simply by agreeing to play
Capes. They agree to the rules, and to some extent they agree
to deal with the Premise.
But there are sections of the superhero genre that vary from
book to book. The Capes rules strongly encourage players to
communicate exactly what type of game they will be playing
together. Doing so makes the game unique to that group.
113
Comics Code
In some comic books it would be inconceivable for a hero to kill
a villain. In some comic books it is standard operating
procedure. There's nothing artistically better or worse about
either choice. But they do lead to different stories.
Once upon a time, comics were governed by a Comics Code
that said what they could and could not do. The code was
external, enforced by various authorities. Writers couldn't
violate it, even if they wanted to. That restriction, as restrictions
often do, prompted a lot of very interesting creativity. Enough so
that the genre conventions fostered by the code have survived
the original code by quite a stretch of time.
The Capes rules are built to accommodate an absolute Comics
Code written by the players. This provides two types of comfort
zone for the players. First, and most obvious, it allows players
to declare the type of stories they want no part of, and be sure
those stories will not appear. It is totally legitimate for a player
to declare "I don't want my hero to have the deaths of innocents
on his conscience", and add a line to the Comics Code that
declares "Innocents cannot die due to any failure or choice of
the heroes." Similarly, a player may feel freer to risk life and
limb in a game which states explicitly in its Comics Code "superheroes will not die."
Once again, just to be clear: The things that are forbidden by
the Comics Code can never, ever, happen. Any time that
Resolving a Conflict would make them happen, the Resolving
Player must Gloat 41 instead.
114
The second comfort zone that the Comics Code provides is the
comfort to be a really villainous villain. This is a far more subtle
effect, and a more powerful one. It is easier to explain by
comparison with a game that has no Comics Code.
When a player takes on the role of a villain, their goal as a
player is still to have a good time. Most people won't have a
good time by getting the other players furious at them. If they
really do their best to be terrible and villainous, there is a real
possibility that they will succeed. If they set out to kill a hero (as
villains should) and by some fluke of the dice they actually do it,
where does that leave them? The players who valued that hero
are angry to be robbed of her presence in the game. And they
will rightly blame the player whose actions caused the situation.
Rather than risk that, players in the role of villains will aim for
less frightening goals, which in turn robs everybody of really
intense conflicts.
In a game with a Comics Code that includes "super-heroes will
not die" the player can feel free to create a "Goal: Kill CometGirl," and to work hard to Control it. They cannot, by doing so,
take the game to a place where Comet-Girl is dead. The
Comics Code has rigid borders that cannot be crossed. It
protects players from the possibility of accidental success.
Indeed, the rule system strongly rewards players who run their
villains smack dab into the restrictions of the Code. Villains
should be threatening to do things that nobody wants to see
happen. That's why they're villains. So every time they get to
the verge of something horrific, the Gloating mechanic gently
pulls them back and rewards them for doing their best on the
side of evil. Smart players will use every opportunity to take
advantage of the Gloating rules, for precisely that reason.
115
116
117
House Rules
The Capes rules are a tool. Every group is going to use that
tool differently. As part of developing their own style, the group
will create a set of social rules for what players are expected to
do. When these social rules are unspoken it runs the risk of
confusion and aggravation. For instance, the hosting player
could get angrier and angrier, week after week, that nobody
pitches in money to pay for snacks. But if he's never asked
anyone for money (because, after all, the rule is unspoken) then
how are they supposed to know what is expected of them? Life
gets so much simpler if, some time in the first few sessions,
someone says "Hey, how are we covering the cost of snacks?"
In just the same way, the Capes system gives people a degree
of power that they may not be comfortable sharing with every
player around the table. To ease their worries, players create
social rules about how that power can be applied.
Disagreements about those rules usually center around the two
big sticking points of roleplaying: Story and Characters.
Capes gives any player the right to prepare Story-Threads (see
chapter 8) and to introduce them into the game. Some groups
will embrace that power, discarding the idea that anyone should
be assigned to make the A-Plot, much less the various B-Plots
that orbit around it. Some groups will want to rotate the
responsibility of creating the A-Plot, so that only one player each
week has to put in a large amount of preparation effort. Some
groups will want to assign that responsibility to one player
(almost always the one who organized the game) forever.
Any of those are legitimate, so long as they are clearly
communicated. A game group where four players think that the
fifth is making the story, but the fifth thinks that they're all taking
it in turns is going to be a game group with a lot of confusion
and few solid stories.
118
Spotlight Characters
The question of characters is even more contentious.
Roleplaying gives players the chance to identify with a character
in a way that few other media do. Players speak, in apparent
seriousness, about becoming their character during the game.
In deference to those feelings, many groups permit or require
each player to create one or more characters that are theirs and
theirs alone. Throughout this text these are referred to as
Spotlight Characters. The game mechanics treat them no
differently than any other character, but the social rules give
them an exalted place.
Many groups rule that no player may play the Spotlight
Character of another, or forcibly narrate events in their past. In
some groups, even the Exemplars of the Spotlight Characters
are off-limits, available only to the players who created them.
As with the question of story preparation, there are no right or
wrong answers to the question of what rights players have to
monopolize characters. What is vital is that everyone is in
agreement on those rights, so that they know what they can do
and what they cannot.
119
Props
Finally, though, there is something that you can do to
personalize the game that is fun, easy and rarely causes
confusion. You can figure out how, precisely, you're going to
make the rules clear to everyone around the table.
Different groups will show thing different ways. Index cards and
dice, or their equivalent, for Conflicts are pretty much a given,
but beyond that you can do a lot of wild things.
Players who want more convenience for minimal effort can go
online (http://www.museoffire.com/Games/) and print out the
letter-sized versions of the Click and Lock pages, then cut them
into their individual modules. That removes the hassle of
copying information from the rulebook onto a sheet of paper.
Then it's a breeze to create new characters and a tactile
experience as well, as you riffle through the Powers and
Personae looking for the ones you want.
With a bit more effort players can go to a board-game store and
pick up some spare colored pawns. Then players can Claim
Conflicts just by placing their color on the appropriate side of the
index card. This speeds the start of the Page and, again,
makes for a very tactile approach to the rules. A larger pawn (or
a crown, or a gavel, or any prop that works for you) can be
passed around to show who is the current Starter.
And for any player who wants to go absolutely nuts on making
the game a little quicker, I have just one word: "Lamination."
Laminate the Click and Locks, the character sheets, even the
Index cards. China pencils do a grand job of making temporary
marks on laminated paper. It's easy to keep track of which
Attitudes and Styles you've blocked then with a wipe of a
tissue you clear the slate for the next scene.
120
Narrative Style
Another thing your group can usefully discuss is what style they
want to take toward the narration rules. Specifically, what
should players be encouraged to narrate when they are on the
losing side of a Conflict.
If you agree that the player should narrate their own loss then
the use of the And Then 26 rule will be a minor factor. Players
will provide their own trouble, and their own constraints. Such a
game will usually be marked by a feeling of slow struggles for
domination, punctuated by sudden reversals.
If you agree that the player should narrate what they'd like to
see happen, even if it means temporarily gaining the upper
hand in the story then the And Then rule will be getting a
constant workout. Such a game will produce stories with
unending back and forth conflicts, with each side gaining and
losing apparent superiority many times in the course of events.
On the opposite side, the group can discuss how much a player
can narrate when they are winning. Particularly, how does a
player control the actions and effectiveness of losing characters
played by another player.
Some groups will have the winning player narrate for all the
characters, whether he's playing them or not. Some groups will
allow the controlling player to tell other players generally what to
narrate, then let them decide the details of how to describe it in
their characters own style.
121
Chapter 7
Strategy
and Tactics
Capes is made up of simple rules that interact in sophisticated
ways. First-time players, particularly, can be overwhelmed.
They need a good grasp of the Tactics of combining simple rules
properly to achieve a short-term goal, and the Strategy of which
short-term goals to pursue in a long-term agenda. The longer it
takes them to feel comfortable, the longer it will be before they
are fully enjoying and contributing to the game. This chapter
aims to shorten that learning time as much as possible.
123
Tactics
There are many possible tactics that can work brilliantly in very
specific situations. Fortunately, only a few are both effective
and reliable on a routine basis. The trick to mastering them is
to realize that having your character win a Conflict is only one of
several equally valid short-term goals.
The flow of in-game resources is the most important factor in
the Capes mechanics. You gain Inspirations by winning
Conflicts.
You gain Story Tokens by losing Conflicts.
Sometimes you will want Inspirations more than Story Tokens,
and set out to have your character win. Sometimes you will
want Story Tokens more than you want Inspirations, and set out
to have your character lose. Letting another character defeat
yours in the story is the opposite of being defeated in the game.
You are gaming the system to get the resources you need.
Some of these tactics will help you to win Conflicts. Some will
help you to lose them. All will help you to control the resources
coming to you.
Instant-Split
Split/Inspire/Roll
Trinity
124
Breeding Debt
Breeding
Inspirations
Spiteful Schism
Massive Schism
Multi-Gloat,
Amateur
Multi-Gloat, Pro
125
Declaring Conflicts
The most confusing thing for most new players of Capes is the
ability to declare Conflicts. They think of declaring Conflicts only
as a way to influence the story. That ignores a powerful tactical
tool. Conflicts are the battlegrounds upon which the game is
played. There are several ways to choose them to your own
advantage.
Preventative
Goals
Distraction
Conflicts
Stage-Setting
Events
Story Token
Conflicts
126
Page Order
Your place in the order of how things happen during the Page is
a subtle but powerful influence on what tactics you can pursue.
Since that place changes each Page, and is predictable, you
can factor it into your plans, using different tactics when you're
at different points in the page order. This section will discuss
the three possible positions in a three-player game.
Starter
You have first choice at absolutely everything. That is your only
advantage. Everyone else will act after you and can respond to
your actions. And on the next Page they will get yet more actions
to respond to what you did, before you take up your action third.
In Starting position you should be capitalizing on the groundwork
you laid in the previous Page. You will often want to restrict
yourself to low-risk tactics.
Second
Second is the most flexible position. You don't get prime pick of
Conflicts, but can generally get something good, and you have
only one person acting after you, so you can probably Resolve it.
Don't let this power go to your head, though. Remember that you'll
be Starter next page. If you want groundwork to capitalize on then,
you'd better start laying it now. Creating a juicy Conflict that you
can claim next Page is well worth your action.
Third
Third position is the most reactive. You'll get to claim only left-over
Conflicts. On the other hand you have final action, for the best
chance to gain something for minimal effort.
You benefit most by claiming something you already control. If you
lose control by the time it gets to your turn then you can spend the
energy to try to get it back. Otherwise you can apply your energy
elsewhere. Third position is also the best place to execute highrisk tactics, as other players have the least opportunity to react.
127
128
129
Resources
There is a lot of randomness in Capes. Dice are rolling all the
time. But the actual outcomes are not as random as they
appear. They are the result of what resources players have,
and what they choose to spend. When a game has hit its stride,
the person who most wants to win a Conflict almost always
does, and the losers make a conscious choice to let it go. Only
the players who have a good balance of resources will get to
play that way. Everyone else is at the mercy of fortune.
Debt Management
Debt is the most basic resource, and the only one that you can
gain at will. You gain it every time you use a Power or powered
Style. Because a character can do this both in her action and in
each reaction, she can generate a number of points of Debt
each Page equal to the number of characters plus one. That's a
lot of Debt in a short period of time.
It is possible to have too much Debt. All told your character's
Drives cannot hold more than nine debt, and getting them that
perfectly spread out is rare. More than that or an uneven
distribution means you're Overdrawn. If you have a lot of Debt
you have less flexibility. You'll need to Stake, and can't afford to
take back doubled debt from a lost Stake. The imbalance takes
away your freedom to lose Conflicts.
It is possible to have too little Debt. While characters can earn it
quickly, they can spend it even more quickly. Staking it provides
a big boost to your success, and will often imply an easy win in
a Conflict if you Stake more than your opposition. When you set
out to take charge of the story, and have your character achieve
things, you'll often find your Debt dwindling away. If you run low
on Debt you have less flexibility. You can't afford to Stake on
important Conflicts. You can't afford to win your own Stakes.
The imbalance takes away your freedom to win Conflicts.
130
131
Story Tokens
You will earn almost all your Story Tokens by losing Conflicts
where your opponent Staked Debt. To earn Story Tokens, you
need to put yourself into a situation where that can happen.
That means you have to find a player who has Debt to Stake,
and put yourself on the opposite side of the Conflict they're
going to Stake on.
In many ways you are giving a sales pitch. Your target, whom
we shall call "the mark," is holding Story Tokens that are
rightfully yours, in the form of Debt. Your job is to separate him
from those Tokens gently but earnestly, in a way that leaves him
happy with the exchange and eager to do it again as soon as
possible. The good news is that you're selling victory, which
everybody wants. The bad news is that, first, you may not be
selling the particular brand of victory your mark is looking for
and, second, he may try to get it without paying you the Story
Tokens you deserve.
To sell the one precise Conflict that your mark will pay anything
to win you need to understand him. You need to know what he's
looking to achieve right now. The most important skill to help
you in this is empathy. Passive empathy is the gentle method of
observing the cues that the mark is deliberately giving off.
When he cheers, you note that what just happened makes him
happy and excited. When his eyes narrow you note that what
just happened makes him sad or angry. When he looks
aimlessly around the room, or goes to get a drink, you note that
what is happening does not interest him. You remember these
cues, and try to figure out what things in the game elicit what
response from him even when he doesn't know himself.
132
133
Inspirations
Inspirations are the portable form of victory. They let a player
carry over their victories (and even the minor moral victories
amidst crushing defeats) to spend on later parts of the story.
To get the most benefit from Inspirations, remember that there is
no such thing as an unimportant victory. All Inspirations are
created equal. You can get them by defeating the villain's
fiendish plan or by talking to the lackey who feeds you slop in
the dungeons. They're exactly the same as far as the rules are
concerned.
As with giving away Debt, the trick to gaining Inspirations
without a big fight is to figure out the small ways in which your
opponent is happy to lose. A player with a cackling arch-villain
is not going to mind losing a Conflict about how well their
minions are treated. They don't want to treat their minions well.
By spotlighting the minion-misery, you are helping them tell their
story. Then you subvert it into your story by using the
Inspiration to later play the minion's sudden but inevitable
betrayal.
134
Strategy
Strategy in Capes is about resource flow. A player with a good
sense of how to get and spend resources is close to having a
winning strategy. They just need a good sense of what they're
accumulating these resources for, and when to spend them.
The rule of thumb is not "Save whatever you have too little of,"
but rather "Spend whatever you have a lot of."
Scenes will create different sets of resources, depending on
what type of scene they are. A short, interpersonal scene (often
"an aside") will tend to consume Debt while creating Inspirations
and Story Tokens. A long scene, particularly super-powered
combat, will consume Story Tokens and Inspirations while
creating Debt.
In the early stages of a story, short scenes will be the rule, and
players will constantly be scrambling for Debt and Story Tokens.
Losing Stakes in a Conflict, particularly if there are Stakes on
both sides, is a winning strategy in this phase. The loser gets
both Story Tokens (from the winner) and Debt (from the doubled
Stake).
At the climax of a story, long scenes will be the rule and players
will be working hard to get rid of Debt, and trying to figure out
how to spend Story Tokens. They probably can't afford to lose
many Stakes at this point. A winning strategy in this section is
to spawn many minor Conflicts to stake Debt on, and then use
Story Tokens to Claim several of them each Page, resolving as
many as possible. This burns through Debt at a spectacular
rate, so that players can avoid ending the game ridiculously
Overdrawn. Playtesting games have ended (more than once)
with characters twenty or more points Overdrawn.
135
Setting Scenes
As with creating Conflicts, many players overlook the tactical
significance of setting a Scene. Long scenes create Debt at the
cost of other resources. If you have enough Debt, but lack other
resources, you would be foolish to create a long scene just
because it is the next logical step in the story. Narration need
not proceed by unexamined plodding to the "next step". When it
is your turn to create a scene, you should make the kind of
scene that will benefit you.
Once you know what type of Scene you want, you can get your
mind working on how to justify it in the story. Perhaps, before
going off to the climactic fight with Professor Dread, Valiant
finally works up the nerve to make his feelings known to Jenny
Goodwright. Or maybe there's time for one television interview
in the midst of an alien invasion, where the hero can give hope
and inspiration to the oppressed human race.
You can use flash-backs to events decades ago, or dreamsequences of nonsensical events that never could happen, or
alternate futures only vaguely glimpsed through the powers of
super-science. A Scene need not be happening "right now" for
you to spend Debt in the scene, or earn Inspirations. Those
things most naturally occur in narrative time, not the fictional
time in which the story itself is ordered.
You are not the slave of the overall story. It is the servant of
your needs and wishes. The big events of the story will get
along just fine without you. There are other players out there
ready and waiting to take advantage of the type of scene you
don't (currently) have any use for. The alien invasion will wait
while you deal with the things that are important to your
character and the story you want to tell.
136
Choosing Characters
In every Scene you will have a choice of what character to play.
Don't let this choice fly by you unexamined. You may really love
your chosen super-hero, and in many scenes they may be the
natural choice. But if they don't have a natural place in this
scene then you're going to twiddle your thumbs and watch other
players with better-chosen characters accumulate resources.
Have a strategy for what you want to accomplish, and then
choose the best character to do that. If you are looking to earn
Story Tokens from a particular mark, for instance, you cannot do
better than to play the Exemplar of the mark's most Debt-laden
Drive. If you are in the market for Story Tokens generally,
playing a villain is a pretty sure way to get them.
Look, also, for the character that can really increase the tension
in a given scene. If two players are finally bringing their
characters close to a stable romantic relationship then it's time
to dig through the group file of old characters and bring back the
crazy bad-boy that one of the lovey-doves had a fling with many
episodes ago. Rocking the boat gives you plenty of opportunity
to profit, one way or the other.
137
Chapter 8
Preparing a
Story-Thread
The trouble with preparing for Capes is that you can't simply
outline a story that you will tell. One player rarely has enough
influence in the game to tell more than the most trivial story
alone. The best way to make a story happen is to draw other
players into helping you to tell it.
By sharing the power to tell your story with the other players,
you recruit their help in making it a reality. Your goal is not to tell
the story alone. It is to encourage others to tell it with you.
139
140
Preparing a story-Thread
141
Working Backward
To prepare a Capes story, it helps to start at the end and work to
the beginning. That way you can identify the selling points of
your conclusion, and use them as a lure to draw players through
the earlier scenes needed to get to that conclusion. Literary
authors refer to this as "foreshadowing". In Capes it is
aggressive advertising. You know the other players will find this
story interesting. So give them the information, right up front, to
realize how cool it's going to be.
Start your planning with the scene of your conclusion. Of
course, you cannot know what will be happening when the story
concludes. You'll only know that after everyone has gotten
together and played it. But you can quite easily imagine a lot of
the scene and situation in which the conclusion will probably
play out. If the arch-villain's base is in an abandoned
amusement park then that's where the heroes will end up,
whether they're captured and thrown in a death-trap or hot on
the heels of the defeated bad guys.
Chris decides that the scene where this B-Plot
thread concludes should be at a cozy dinner at home,
with Donna and her parents. He decides it would be
much more fun to have more of the Spotlight
characters there, so he makes a note to create an
explanation for more team-mates to be present if
they want to. So far this scene isn't dripping with
interest or conflict. Maybe if Donna were forced to
wear an impractical dress, just rife with the sort of
girlish formality that Night Maiden detests? Chris
changes the dinner venue from a comfortable home
meal to a stilted affair at an expensive restaurant.
142
Preparing a story-Thread
143
The Teaser
When you have a few "Things got worse" scenes, you've
probably got enough material to craft the Teaser. The Teaser is
the first scene, or scene fragment, where you make your big
sales pitch for how interesting the story thread will be.
Everything that you think is cool about the thread should be
shown in microcosm in the Teaser.
The Teaser is not aimed at the character. It won't do any good if
the character is interested in addressing your story, but the
player is not. The Teaser must arouse the interest of the
players, not by forcing them to be interested (by, for instance,
threatening their character) but by showing them the many
options that they will have to control the outcome of the story.
Trailing the Teaser in front of the other players in a way that will
interest them is a challenge to even a seasoned performer. You
need to quickly get across your excitement about the story, but
in a way that promises the players involvement. Writing up a
speech can help, if you remember that the speech is just a
guideline. If, on the other hand, you just take a sheet of paper
and read it as a monologue, you probably won't make anyone's
heart beat faster at the prospect of further monologues to come.
Chris decides on a phone call from the parents. He
hopes to insert it at some humorous juncture... for
instance in a scene where Night Maiden is fighting villains.
Looking over his notes he sees several fun things that
he wants to sell people on as quickly as possible: The
difficulty of maintaining secret identity with the parents
visiting, the long-term possibility of Donna in a slinky
dress, the unpleasantness of Max, Fay's desire to see
her daughter romantically attached, and the notion of
having somebody fake the role of her boyfriend.
144
Preparing a story-Thread
145
Working Forward
Once you have the story thread plotted out from end to
beginning, it's time to work it forward from beginning to end and
fill in all the details that you'll need in order to actually help it run
smoothly. At a minimum, you should write up interesting
Attitudes and other abilities for the major supporting characters
you intend to introduce. Look over your notes to see what sort
of Abilities would help to reinforce the points you want to convey.
Remember that, if you do your job right, you will not be playing
these characters much. You will be handing them off to other
interested players. Designing them correctly from the beginning
will make it more likely that those players will work toward the
ideas you've imagined.
146
Preparing a story-Thread
This is also the time to start writing up the Conflicts that you
expect to use throughout the thread. Having these right to hand
(perhaps even written on index cards) will help you to remember
to introduce them at the proper times. Conflicts are absolutely
essential to giving the other players a reason to get involved in
your story. These are the things they can immediately start
rolling (and, if you're lucky, Staking) on. And once somebody
wins them, the Inspirations earned are their reason to connect
back to the story in later scenes. Conflicts are the literal rules
representation of the player's right to get in there and tell the
story. Always make sure you declare as many as your story can
comfortably support.
The Conflicts you establish in the Teaser are particularly
important. If they don't attract the players' interest then you
probably will not get a second chance. All of the tricks that are
detailed in Chapter 6 will serve you well here. Every Conflict
should, ideally, be carefully considered and perfectly matched to
the players you want to involve.
The further you get from the Teaser, the more the situation is
going to diverge from your original plan. So at some point you
just have to stop writing up Conflicts and decide that you'll go
with the flow once you see what happens.
147
148
Preparing a story-Thread
149
Weaving a Web
As you think about linking your small plot-thread into the story in
various ways you'll see opportunities. If you decide that your
thread works better if, say, Billy Bob is held hostage by an archvillain you may find yourself reluctant to just sit back and hope
that the other players think to kidnap him. You'll want to do
some preparation on a story thread of him getting kidnapped.
Preparing your second story thread follows all the same
guidelines as the first. It is doubly important that you enlist the
aid of other players. You've got twice as much story that you
now might try to tell, and still the same amount of power you
always had.
The first benefit of working up multiple, interweaving threads is
that they strongly draw players in. If a player gets interested in
even one of the threads, the links to other potential story
threads will help interest them in those as well.
The second benefit is that once you have two story threads in
hand, you can afford to let one lapse if nobody gets excited
about it. You'll still have the second thread to spend your
energy on, and you won't have to face the uphill battle of trying
to foster interest where it didn't immediately spark.
The part that hurts is that some portion of your effort is almost
certainly going to be wasted. The more story threads you
prepare, the more likely it becomes that one or more of them will
never see more than a brief glimmer of screen time.
150
Preparing a story-Thread
151
152
Preparing a story-Thread
Gina decides she'd like to try to present an APlot. Her group tells stories about the Dark
Squad, secret agents charged with ferretting out
supernatural threats to national security. She
wants to dig deeper into the questions of secrecy,
and how much lying is justified by a noble goal.
She creates an A-Plot around a young occult
researcher (Brad Pace) who learns too much. A
dark cult and its unnatural servants target him
for assassination. While it will seem natural (at
first) for the good guys to defend him, even they
will have to worry at the end about whether he can
be allowed to go free, knowing what he knows.
The final conflict will work
better supported by a B-Plot.
Gina sets up a conclusion
where one of the Dark Squad
has to choose between their
friendship and/or love for
Brad and their duty. She
leaves that open, ready to
tailor it to any player who
seems interested at the time.
Gina also wants to intimate
some secrets within the Dark
Squad organization.
She
prepares a thread for Jack's
character, Quickdraw, that will
imply that the organization
knows more than it's telling
about his bloody origin. Brad
is on the verge of learning
more, if given the chance.
153
Appendices
You can spend a huge amount of time picking the perfect name
for your hero's secret identity, or the perfect words to make up
your mad scientists invention.
But if you don't have that sort of time, or doing it is not a happy
labor of love for you, just pick and choose from pre-chosen
elements out of the appendices.
155
Adam
Eddie
Hugh
Nick
Max
Bruce
Bill
Frank
Victor
Will
Dan
Tim
Tom
Kurt
Glen
Carl
Jack
John
Steve
Scott
Rick
Rex
Lance
Alex
Eric
Henry
Norman
Michael
Peter
Bobby
Phillip
Vincent
Walter
Dave
Douglas
Tony
Kevin
Gordon
Calvin
Charlie
Jimmy
Stanley
Stuart
Richard
Robert
Leo
Male
Alfred
Arthur
Holland
Noel
Monty
Brandon
Brent
Felix
Vance
Wayne
Dennis
Terry
Dale
Kirk
Guy
Clark
Chester
Charles
Sidney
Cecil
Reed
Roland
Theo
Alice
Annie
Audrey
Nina
Mary
Betty
Paula
Fay
Vicky
Wendy
Tina
Dana
Doris
Kim
Gwen
Carol
Jill
Jane
Sarah
Sue
Rita
Rose
Lois
Elizabeth
Angela
Yvonne
Nicky
Maggie
Becky
Peggy
Felicia
Vanessa
Veronica
Theresa
Diana
Dorothy
Kathy
Christine
Claudia
Jackie
Jenny
Sandy
Susan
Rebecca
Robin
Lana
Evelyn
Iris
Holly
Nikita
Michelle
Bonnie
Polly
Phyllis
Vivian
Wanda
Donna
Dawn
Trudy
Kelly
Grace
Constance
Charlotte
Jean
Sylvia
Sharon
Renee
Roxanne
Lilith
Female
York
Hart
Hayes
Knight
May
Black
Pace
Frost
West
Wayne
Tate
Duke
Troy
Kent
Grey
Cross
Giles
James
Stark
Snow
Roy
Rush
Lane
Olsen
Osborne
Hunter
Nelson
Morgan
Banner
Parker
Foster
Watson
Wagner
Doyle
Tucker
Tesla
Kirby
Griffin
Gardner
Jenkins
Jackson
Stacey
Santiago
Richards
Rogers
Logan
Ilyan
Harper
Hood
Noble
Moon
Bishop
Powers
Faust
White
Valentine
Drake
Tombs
Trueheart
King
Queen
Graves
Chase
Jordan
Savage
Strange
Rasputin
Rook
Love
Surname
A
Names Science Magic Index
Mundane Names
Pick a first name and a surname. The nearer the rows the
more the names will alliterate (e.g. "Veronica Valentine")
156
Appendices
Scientific Gadgets
Pick one term from each column. The higher it is in the
column, the more modern the terminology. Lower in the
column are more antiquated terms.
So, for example, selecting from high in the table will create
modern devices like a "Proto-quantum Inertial Flux
Discriminator". Selecting from low in the table will create
old school gadgets like a "Micro-Hydraulic Steam Wave
Bomb".
MetaProtoQuasiHyperInterMonoMegaAntiMicroSuper-
Quantum
Nucleic
Temporal
Dimensional
Spatial
Molecular
Atomic
Magnetic
Electric
Hydraulic
Resonant
Intrinsic
Inertial
Harmonic
Proton
Vibration
Gravity
Energy
Fluid
Steam
Flux
Probability
Asymmetry
Spin
Polarity
Field
Particle
Wave
Beam
Pulse
Oscillator
Discriminator
Capacitor
Accelerator
Stabilizer
Scrambler
Anchor
Scope
Cannon
Bomb
157
Magical Incantations
Pick one term from each column. Combine any which way
to make up something that a sorceror can swear on (or at,
or about). Using the same row will produce heavy
alliteration ("By Merlin's Mystic Might!"), while mixing it up
will reduce the effect ("It's more fearsome than the
Gruesome Fangs of Legba!") You can also go through the
second and third column of the table more than once ("I
swear upon Akhenaton's Awesome Crystal Circle Divine
Mystic Virtue Dance Ordeal Portal!")
Akhenaton's
Baldur's
Cuchulainn's
Durendal's
Eris's
Fenris's
Gilgamesh's
Hoggoth's
Isis's
Jove's
Kali's
Legba's
Merlin's
Nebuchadnezzar's
Odin's
Perseus's
Quetzacoatl's
Ra's
Sibyll's
Titania
Uriel's
Vishnu's
Wakanda's
Yggdrasil's
Zoroaster's
158
Awesome
Bristling
Crystal
Divine
Enticing
Fractured
Gruesome
Hoary
Immutable
Jewelled
Kindred
Legendary
Mystic
Nefarious
Onerous
Princely
Quivering
Raging
Soothing
Trusty
Unstoppable
Vast
Wasted
Yearning
Zealous
Ankh
Beard
Circle
Dance
Exorcism
Fangs
Glare
Hosts
Illusion
Judgment
Killer
Lore
Might
Needle
Ordeal
Portal
Quills
Rod
Shield
Titan
Uprising
Virtue
Weaving
Yell
Zombies
Appendices
Index
A-Plot pp. 118, 140, 152
Abilities pp. 25, 38, 68, 69, 102
Blocking Abilities pp. 38, 69
B-Plot pp. 118, 140-153
Action pp. 17, 18, 25
Alliance pp. 22, 26, 63
"And Then" rule pp. 26, 39, 121
Attitudes pp. 69, 102, 106, 120
Character Sheets p. 9
Characters
Akhten Hod pp. 53, 5565
Black Scarab pp. 53, 5565
Brunt pp. 21-24
Captain Liberty, pp. 2124, 33, 44, 45-65
Captain Roscoe p. 27
Chief Mannelli pp. 21-24
Comet Girl p. 115
Crimson p. 73
Doctor Phantom p. 31
Fivesight p. 73
Flare pp. 39-40
Galactic pp. 70-71
Gopher-Sailors p. 27
Hooded Viper p. 149
Iron Gauntlet p. 33
Janey Jones p. 116
Jetstream p. 37
Kid Swift p. 36
Liz Livingstone pp. 2124, 52-64
Magnet Master p. 33
Maximus p. 37
Metamorph p. 31
Moonbeam pp. 70-71
Night Maiden pp. 45, 4651, 141-149
Characters (continued)
Nocturne p. 36
Prang pp. 39-40
Professor Grim pp. 2124
Rocket Girl pp. 70-71
Roger Rocket p. 27
Solar Huntsman p. 36
Sylvia p. 27
Tyrranor p. 41
Zero-G p. 37
Zip pp. 44, 45-51
Claiming pp. 22, 24, 48, 60
Click and Locks pp. 44, 52, 77,
80, 120
Comics Code, pp 41, 59, 114
Conflicts pp. 26, 38, 71, 126, 147
Free Conflicts pp. 22, 45,
54, 58, 76, 105, 107,
109, 111
Deadlock p. 30
Debt pp. 32, 38, 47, 51, 124, 130
Debt Tokens p. 15
Drives pp. 19, 25, 32, 45, 68, 74
Despair pp. 35, 75
Duty pp. 34, 75
Fear pp. 35, 75
Hope pp. 34, 47, 75
Justice pp. 34, 47, 51, 75
Love pp. 34, 58, 75
Obsession pp. 35, 75
Overdrawn pp. 32, 58, 51
Power pp. 35, 75
Pride pp. 35, 75
Truth pp. 34, 75
Undifferentiated pp. 55, 74
159
160