#2 Arm/Leg Warmers

     And I missed last night, so this 'Article a day' thing is off to a flying start...

    For some reason my brain has settled on doing arm warmers. And so long as I am, I may as well do Leg Warmers.

    This is kind of interesting, because the way the locations in game works, Leg Warmers probably fall under 'Bottoms', while Arm Warmers are just 'Accessories'. Not much a difference, but 'Accessories' don't actually take up slots, so can be stacked infinitely, but also get destroyed more easily and tend to be scaled down in overall effect.

    Both Articles also have some interesting cultural properties. Arm Warmers in particular show up in both athletic and countercultural contexts, usually under very different designs.

    Traditionally I've also given dual items the Match/Unmatch Tag, which lets you garner a bonus to either Clash or Trend by whether you match your parts. This is possibly a very strong effect.


Arm Warmers

Accessory

An excellent means of being snug when you need to maintain a cold shoulder.

Tags: Match/Unmatch

Athletes and Counterculture: If your Armbands match add the bonus to Function instead of Trend.

Heating Up: Once in a session you may roll Function instead of Pizazz, so long as you are rolling Clash.

Cold Shoulder:    Once in a session you may roll Clash instead of Trend, so long as you are rolling Function.

Budget: 1

Breaking it down:

Flavor

    Not sure I'm sold on the present flavor. May just be a placeholder, but I like messing with the warm and cold bits, and it ended up referenced again in mechanics.

Tag

    Match/Unmatch is standard with paired items (though this may change with playtesting, it's probably unbalanced). Here we edit it with Athletes and Counterculture to make it a choice between Function and Clash, not Trend and Clash.

    While the Arm Warmers have no Style (most Accessories don't), its ability to add bonus Function or Clash is quite potent.

Heating Up/Cold Shoulder

    Match/Unmatch might be mechanically potent enough to make an Accessory worth Budget 1, but I want a bit more going on for this Article. While inspired more by pun than anything, I do like the notion of the Heating up and Cold Shoulder. Using Clash to lean into a sort of physical aloofness/avoidance that often comes with Trend, or using Function to excitedly get into a heated confrontation. Physically imposing into a social space.
    The real trick is that you could use both once per session effects together and end up rolling Clash+Function for a roll that would normally be Trend+Pizazz.
    This is once per session in part because I don't want it to keep the Article on the lower side, but mostly because I want the moments of reversing stats to feel special and rare.

Budget

    So far most things are Budget 1, and I don't think Arm Warmers are so powerful, or so iconically expensive, to buck that trend.


Onto the legs...

    Leg Warmers really don't have the same dual split in utility, do they? Counterculturally you're more likely to pair arm warmers with high socks than with leg warmers. It's much more evocative of exercise, and particularly '70s aerobics... and ballet...

Leg Warmers

Crotchless leg sleeves great for keeping you warm and sopping up sweat.

Tags: Match/Unmatch, Armor [1], Short

Dancewear: While dancing you may add an 8 to the Sequence. If you do, damage the Leg Warmers.

Style: +1 Function

Budget: 2

    Breakdown...

Flavor

    I really don't know how to comment on it. Flavor's hard. Might change this later.

Tags

    Match/Unmatch remains standard for this kind of thing, and may be broken.
    Given that one of the reasons Leg Warmers get used is a belief that they help prevent injuries, I felt Armor very sensible. Lets the wearer absorb some extra damage safely.
    Short... well, Leg Warmers are literally Short. But, more significantly, Short means that they can combo with what's worn underneath, rather than replacing it. Which when focusing on Athletic Leg Warmers seems reasonable... maybe less so when focused on fashion. Maybe this could be ditched and the Budget lowered... but I'm keeping it for now.
    Notably Leg Warmers are not overwear, so they will penalize you for wearing too many layers, unless the layers underneath

Dancewear

    A simple ability that is pretty niche, but hopefully gets players to think about breaking into dancing at inappropriate times.
    Dancing is a pretty fun use of Function a lot of the time, but could easily end up being Pizazz. 
    Because it's niche, I think a nice solid 8 added is reasonable. I like to think the damage is caused by sweating into the leg warmers, but it could be anything.

Style

    As noted, Leg Warmers are generally pretty athletic, so Function makes sense to me. It can also add a bonus to Trend or Pizazz with Match/Unmatch, so it's pretty powerful here.

Budget

    In real life Leg Warmers aren't exactly expensive, by any stretch, but I upped the Budget to 2 because even with Dancewear being a less than optimal ability, Match/Unmatch, a full Style bonus, the Armor, and Short all add up to something I think is too powerful at Budget 1.


And... that's all.

    Going to try and get another one up before the day is over.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#5: The Léotard

Image
      Well, we've already established arm and leg warmers. Maybe I'm on an athleisure theme... Leotard Top Jules Léotard was a star acrobat, a trapeze artist of no mean skill, and a physical wonder of his age, the subject of song and story. All this is forgotten, even as he is immortalized in the tightfitting athletic wear he wore. We should all be so lucky. Stretchy : If you are wearing no Bottoms or only Bottoms with short, take a +1 bonus Function. Lose this ability if the Leotard is damaged. Show Off: When you perform physically in front of a crowd you may roll Function Pizazz for the Sequence. Freedom of Movement: You gain a +3 Move with Grace Grace . Lose this ability if the Leotard is damaged. Style: +1 Function Budget : 1 Breakdown     It's only natural an ubiquitous piece of athletic wear give its bonus to Function. Budget is low and things set to balance, yadda, yadda.     No Tags, which is interesting. Happens som...
Read more

Day 1: The Baseball Cap

      So, for this week, I am going to try and post an Article up every day, more to get my ball rolling than anything else.     Sunday I started this off with the Baseball Cap, and put it to Blue Sky. It was, due to character limits, a godawful mess.     So, here it is again... Baseball Cap What better way to brand the eight men pitching and catching for you? Tags : Armor [1] Go, Team! : When you spend Wardrobe on this item, you may select an affiliation to link it to. If you acquire a hat through means other than the Wardrobe, your GM will tell you its affiliation. Sports teams are popular, but so are fandoms and political movements. In any Sequence in which you rolled Trend you may add a 7 when interacting with an affiliated member. In any Sequence in which you rolled Clash and interact with an affiliated member, the GM may add a 5. Lose this ability if the Baseball Cap is damaged. Sun Visor: The Baseball Cap’s armor can only be used while...
Read more

#3 Cargo Pants

      Game needs more Clash Articles, turns out... but instead I'm doing Cargo Pants. Cargo Pants Bottoms Why carry luggage when you can wear it? Pockets, Pouches, and more Pockets: It is impossible for someone to actually search all your pockets. If you are actively hiding something in your pockets, then it can only be found in an elaborate frisking… and even then nothing is found unless a Tragedy is spent. This ability is lost if the Cargo Pants are damaged. Forgot I had that: When the Cargo Pants are damaged, something unexpected and useful falls out. Describe it and add an 8 to the Sequence. Style: +1 Trend Budget : 1 The breakdown...     Clothing is ubiquitous and passes by unseen often as not, so it gets Trend. While practical, the practicality is more in the pockets than running around. No Tags, because it's a pretty straightforward Article. Pockets, Pouches, and more Pockets     How do you make the having of pockets intere...
Read more