[Threats] Let's talk about afflictions!

[Chroma]

Okay, I'm having some difficulty incorporating "Afflictions" as threats, well, having half a problem.

The first three types of afflictions (disease, condition, custom) I haven't had any problem with, both conceptually and practically in setting up countdowns and custom moves... I've had some positively terrifying diseases in some games!

It's the other three types (delusion, sacrifice, barrier" that I'm having trouble with.  A "barrier" seems more landscape-like to me, and delusions and sacrifices seem almost like subsets of customs, so I'm not sure how to differentiate them.

Anyone got any examples from play they'd like to share or just have some thoughts on such things?

[Krippler]

My favourite delusion was in a game in which the Brainer had his brain relay set up as a huge antenna overseeing the entire hardhold (he was the enforcer) and when I asked why he had 5-barter lying around he said he sold tinfoil hats that would protect against his direct brain whisper projection via a proxy. Obviously they didn't work but as more hats came into circulation and people started believing they were untouchable...

[Chroma]

How did this delusion work as a threat to the PCs? 

Did some of them buy into it or was the countdown about people finding out the tinfoil didn't do anything and seeking out the Brainer for revenge?  As it stands, it looks like something that helped the PCs!  *laugh*

Anyone else have any thoughts on these kinds of threats?

[Chris]

How did this delusion work as a threat to the PCs? 

It provided context for the MC to make MC moves against the PCs, both soft and hard.

[elkin]

Some examples from my games:

When creating my fronts, I envisioned a cannibal-cult that spreads among the hardholds, encouraging people to "stop raping the land for corn" and eat other cult members instead. I classified this practice as sacrifice, and used it to engage my players with great success.

One of the problems the PCs faced was the the soil was getting progressively less fertile, making the future of the agricultural communities they came from uncertain at best. This was classified as barrier, and caused NPCs to take some very desperate measures.

In another campaign, two of the PCs escorted a local well-connected bigshot to a far-away place, where he died from nano-plague. They left his body and fled, and by the time they came back with a search party, the body was already consumed by the nanobots. I classified the belief that the PCs murdered the bigshot as delusion, and boy, did it create trouble for them.

[Chroma]

Some examples from my games:

WHOA! Thanks a bunch for those, elkin, very inspiring!

[help im a bug]

Oh man guys thanks for this thread. It made me all like "man, I wanna make some affliction moves" so yeah now the cat people who live in the 2-mile-high Kite Oak totally view humans as a subordinate species and that's an affliction:barrier and dudes in jingly collars and leashes are all flying into rages and taking fruitless self-destructive actions all over the place!

[Adje]

When creating my fronts, I envisioned a cannibal-cult that spreads among the hardholds, encouraging people to "stop raping the land for corn" and eat other cult members instead. I classified this practice as sacrifice, and used it to engage my players with great success

That's fascinating and useful - I've had trouble thinking up threats for some of my fronts, and one of them is a similar cult. Sure, the cult themselves are the gang part of a Hive Queen, but what other threats did they pose? I was thinking I'd have to flesh (ahem) them out with lots of other NPCs to be named threats, but was wondering what made them distinct from the Cult.

But Afflication:Sacrifice (or delusion) gives me what I need. The Cult's threats aren't just the actual fully signed up members, it's also the spread of their beliefs. And that's much harder to tackle... (c:

Thank you!

[Krippler]

How did this delusion work as a threat to the PCs? 

Did some of them buy into it or was the countdown about people finding out the tinfoil didn't do anything and seeking out the Brainer for revenge?  As it stands, it looks like something that helped the PCs!  *laugh*

It would have become more dangerous as it grew because the Brainer was basically the only law enforcement and (and hated to boot) so eventually a big enough group would try to take him out (and Direct brain-whisper projection isn't much good against gangs unless you have the +harm moves) at 12:00.