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 in bright light.

Flip it Back: Turn the baseball cap backwards. When you do, damage it, and take +1 bonus Clash for the rest of the Scene. 

Style: +1 Trend

Budget: 1


    I do find baseball hats interesting, because they serve a straightforward functional purpose, but that seems almost entirely secondary to their iconography as symbols of loyalty.

    Anyways, breaking down:


Flavor Text

    A pointless piece of sexual innuendo makes me smile and I think fits the overall tone. I hesitate at using 'men' here. Could go with 'people' and preserve gender neutrality, but I think 'men' is just funnier. Something to hem and haw over.

Go, Team!

    Basically, free Flair when trending with your group, and a free Tragedy if you Clash with them. At least, in theory a Flair and Tragedy... 7 can be knocked down by a 2 pint Faux Pas, and a 1 point Grace can elevate the 5.
    I debated making this add the 5 when using Trend with other groups... but it becomes either too wordy to explain that, or else too murky.
    The damage shut off won't trigger with the armor getting filled, but if it's dark or the armor is already full then Flip it Back can effectively remove the penalty for Clash before you roll it.

Sun Visor

    I want the baseball cap to retain its chief physical advantage. I think making it armor, the ability to absorb one Tragedy without hitting actual damage on the Article, does a good job representing the protective quality.
    I kind of wanted to have the Sun Visor create the armor, so it would read more like a bonus instead of reading like a flaw on the Tag... but the fact that the Armor stays damaged rather than resets in bright light was rather annoying to get across in that circumstance. Mechanics are cleaner this way.

Flip it Back

    I worry my mental image of the backwards cap is still rooted in the iconography of the 90s... and even then is perhaps insensitive to the way the symbol crossed certain lines.
    But, I do think there is some truth to the backwards cap being a symbol of breaking out of expectations and entering into Clash rings true.
    Fun fact: Damage to an Article changes its Style to the opposite kind, only destroying the Article when no more Styles can be reversed. This means Baseball Cap can get hit twice, or three times in bright light, before being useless. So, self damaging at night gets your Trend into Clash right before the fight, in addition to the bonus Clash. Or, if you're in the Sun and the Armor isn't full up, you can turn the hat round.. and use up your ability to gain advantages in the Sun... which I think fits.
    A +1 bonus to Clash is arguably worse than something that adds a set value to the Sequence, since the extra die can roll low as well as high. On the other hand, it lasts the Scene, not just one Sequence, so it may be worth it.

Style

    Baseball Caps are, to my mind, all about fitting in. There is an argument that they serve Function, as they have some brute utility... but even on the pitch they serve to identify teams most of all.
    So, I give it +1 Trend.

Budget

    1 is as low as Budget goes. A single +1 to Trend and 3 fairly low key abilities seems balanced to it.

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