In games of enormous power and massive effect, there’s some expectation that buildings will crumble, crowds will scatter, and havoc will be wreaked on a huge scale. As characters ascend to new, untold levels of power, their ability to contain collateral damage lessens. Demigods are no longer merely heroic mortals, but beings halfway between mortal and god and their power matches. At the
Demigod level, Storyguides should include the collateral pool to represent the high stakes dangers of throwing around true divine power. For playing Hero games, this can present an interesting way to provide increasing stakes and add a level of tension to a game.
BUILDING THE POOL
At the start of any ongoing campaign or a one-shot, the collateral pool begins with zero dice. Whenever the players’ characters take any of the following actions, add one die to the pool for each applicable action.
• Performing marvels
• Performing Feats of Scale
• Making any roll enhanced by Scale
• Rolling a pool with divinity dice
• Failing to buy off applicable Complications
• Certain stunts (this will be noted)
• Special Flairs or Antagonist abilities
The pool builds until it reaches 10 dice, and the number of dice in the pool roll over from session to session until it hits 10. Once it has been filled, any actions that would add additional dice instead add Enhancement.
At the end of any round in combat or after all player characters have taken their actions outside of it, the player whose action caused the pool to fill then rolls all ten dice and the Storyguide chooses from the following stunts:
Echo (3s)
Alter the Field with an aspect of the rolling player’s Purviews. A building might sprout flowers, a road turn into a river, trees turn to metal sculptures, and so on. These changes persist until the end of the scene. Harm (2s vs trivial targets/any successes over Defense): Either a major character is hurt by an environmental disaster caused by the characters’ actions or the power unleashed causes injury (or death) to any number of trivial bystanders.
Incite (2s)
Onlookers turn against the characters, furious with them for their wanton destruction. The triggering character has +1 Difficulty to social interactions for the rest of the session for each time this Stunt is chosen, to a maximum of +3.
Pin (2s vs trivial targets/any successes over Defense)
A massive piece of rubble falls either on a major character in the scene, or on any number of trivial bystanders, trapping them until they break free or are rescued.
Raze (Successes equal to Size)
Destroy an object established in the Field such as a building, the getaway car, an armored vehicle, etc.
Rift (5s)
An aspect of an Overworld, Underworld, Terra Incognita, or other cosmological place associated with the rolling character appears, subsuming part of the Field and displacing its reality. Threats from this otherworld may appear, if dramatically appropriate. Reality reasserts itself at the end of the scene.
Scatter (2s)
All trivial or non-magical targets (including Followers and mooks) flee the area, out of terror or self-preservation. Even well-drilled military units will run. This is a fear effect for the purposes of Knacks and Boons. Once the pool has been rolled, it resets to zero, and resumes filling back up as normal. If the collateral pool is rolled before it reaches 10, reset the value to zero unless otherwise stated. Some actions may cause the collateral pool to be rolled immediately. If so, the triggering player rolls it right away and the Storyguide chooses the Stunts, as normal.
Some actions, Powers, Flairs, etc. may specify that the Storyguide must choose certain Collateral Stunts. When they apply, this is not optional, and the Storyguide must spend successes on the mandated Stunts first, before choosing any others.
Collateral Pool
Players may engage with the collateral pool in the following ways:
Unchecked Abandon
When a character makes any action with unchecked abandon, she may declare before she rolls any number of Enhancement, up to +5. The Storyguide adds an equal number of dice to the pool instantly, which may cause the pool to empty.
Devil’s Bargain
Once per session, a character may take a devil’s bargain, and any collateral they would add to the pool during that action is instead given to the Storyguide as Tension.