#6: Tie-Dye Shirt

    One of the things that comes up from time to time is an Article that feels at once very natural and immediate, and yet somehow wrong in the framework I've created. The Tie-Dye shirt is one of those. Its iconography is intensely countercultural, bleeding into the mainstream only through that lens, which makes it solidly Clash. On the other hand, Clash is the game stat that makes you better at violence... which seems weird for our modern stereotypes of hippies as peaceful (not a universal image during their heyday). Since The Outfit feeds off broad cultural concepts, this is a contradiction that needs address...

Tie-Dye Shirt

In the late 1960s advances in chemistry allowed for the cheap and easy reproduction of ancient east Asian dying techniques… just in time to sell peace and love to the West.

Love & Peace: When you refuse violent ends in a dangerous situation add a 7 to the Sequence. If the Tie-Dye Shirt is damaged add two 7s instead. If you engage in violence add a 4 to the Sequence.

Dirty Hippie: When the Tie-Dye Shirt is damaged, increase Clash to +2 instead of swapping it to Trend. The next damage destroys it as normal.

Style: +1 Clash

Budget: 1

Breakdown...

Love & Peace

    A simple way to make the shirt bad for fighting, even as it grants a bonus to it. Reward pacifism, punish violence. I have a lot of clothing that lose abilities when damaged, but I like that this one gets more powerful from it. The refusal of violence is more meaningful after being hurt...

Dirty Hippie

    Mostly, I don't think it made much sense for damaged Tie-Dye to become trendy, but instead leant into the notion that someone in a run down, old, and damaged Tie-Dye only matches certain socially unacceptable stereotypes more.

    Style and Budget are hopefully obvious at this point.

What's Missing?

    I'm tempted to add something about Psychedelia as an ability, given the cultural associations and the way the bright colors and designs are associated with psychedelic trips. Maybe add a Grace relating to it? Or a simple add a 5 to add a 6 when taking drugs mechanic?
    It's a consideration, but I haven't quite nailed something I like, and it maybe pulls the design in too many directions...

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