Players have Momentum, representing the juggernaut of their characters’ narrative and mythic potential. The opposing force, the one that makes life interesting for the player characters, is Tension. Tension is a pool of points at the Storyguide’s disposal, which may be spent in several ways to make Antagonists a little tougher than they would be otherwise. This allows the Storyguide to fine tune a challenge, with a cost incentive to not overdo it. Players should always know the Tension Pool total — seeing a giant pile of counters is a good way to keep them tense, after all. Base Tension is equal to the number of players + the average Legend of the group, and refreshes every arc.
In addition to Base Tension, points are added to the Tension Pool whenever a player character overcomes a Condition or suffers a Failure Deed. This keeps the pool topped up according to the relative drama of the session.
SPENDING TENSION
Spending Tension points is always instantaneous, taking place outside narrative time. In effect, the situation is retconned slightly — the new foe was always that strong, he was just holding back, etc. Tension use should never result in major inconsistencies (at least, not unless powerful magic is involved), but it’s relatively easy to explain away any use of it.
ARCHETYPE PROMOTION
Archetype Promotion is what it sounds like; remove the Antagonist’s Archetype and replace it with the next higher up; Mook to Professional, Professional to Villain, and Villain to Monster, for example. This makes the Antagonist much more competent, with larger dice pools, Stress tracks, and base Enhancements. Archetype Promotion costs 3 Tension.
ADDING QUALITIES
Adding a Quality to an Antagonist is a less overwhelming change, but still represents a significant boost in ability, since Qualities are permanently active. Adding a Quality costs 2 Tension.
ADDING FLAIRS
Adding a Flair to an Antagonist is far more granular and situational than adding a Quality. Any Flairs added with Tension consider their cooldowns refreshed, meaning they’re ready to use. Adding a Flair costs 1 Tension.
ACTION INTERRUPT
The initiative roster is set, with player character slots and Storyguide character slots. Using Action Interrupt, however, allows the Storyguide to insert a new slot into the roster for a single round, which may be used for any Antagonist (even Antagonists who have already acted in the round). The new slot disappears at the end of the round. Action Interrupts cost 2 Tension.
DEFENSE BOOST
Storyguides are advised to kill their darlings (or, at least, to let the players do so), but sometimes it’s not quite time for them to go just yet. Spending Tension on a Defense Boost raises an Antagonist’s Defense by 1 per Tension spent, to a maximum of the number of players, for one round.
INSTANT COOLDOWN
All Flairs have cooldowns, conditions that must be fulfilled before the Flair can be used again. For 1 Tension, the Storyguide may instantly refresh a single Flair for a single Antagonist.
POWER COST
Some Qualities and Flairs have Tension costs associated with them. In such cases, follow the rules described in those Qualities and Flairs for spending Tension.
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