Capes Corebook

Capes!
Super Roleplaying
by Tony Lower-Basch
Copyright 2005 by Tony Lower-Basch

All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including
illustrations in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections
107 and 108 of the US Copyright Law and except by reviewers for
the public press), without written permission from the publisher.
Permission is hereby granted for any reproduction that:
(1) Occurs in the context of playing the game described
herein, and
(2) Involves no sale, rental, or other means of profiting from
this work, and
(3) Includes full attribution
... including (but not limited to): Copying of any pages for reference
or use in play, copying of pages or sections to help acclimate players
to the rules, or copying the entire book to provide to people in your
playing group.
For other reproductions or uses, please contact the publisher by way
of:
http://www.museoffire.com/Games/
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Chapter 1
Basic
Rules
Intro
Rules Summary
Scenes
Conflicts
Debt
Abilities
11
18
20
26
32
38
Chapter 2
Example
of Play
Training 43
Battle 52
Rescue 64
Chapter 3
assembling
a Character
Intro
Abilities
Drives
Exemplars
67
69
74
75
Contents
Chapter 4
Click
and Lock
Click and Lock

Powers
Persona
Skills
79
82
88
94
Chapter 5
Extended
Rules
Non-persons 101
Things 104
Phenomena 108
Situations 110
Chapter 6
Personalizing
the Game
Comics Code 113

House Rules 118
Props 120
Contents
Chapter 7
Strategies
and Tactics
Tactics
System
Resources
Strategy
123
128
130
135
Chapter 8
Preparing a
Story-Thread
A- and B-Plots 139

Working Backward 142
Working Forward 146
Appendices
Names
Science
Magic
Index
155
157
158
159
Acknowledgements
I could not have begun or continued without the patience of my
wife, Elizabeth. Her ability to hear a dozen "groundbreaking ideas" in
as many hours and still treat each one with the same mixture of
interest and skepticism has been invaluable.
This system is as much the result of the creative and passionate
inventors at the Indie RPG Forge (www.indie-rpgs.com) as it is of any
effort on my part. In particular I owe a great debt to Sydney
Freedberg, Thomas Robertson, and Doug Ruff. Their constant
suggestions and questions have turned this from a collection of
disconnected notions into a functioning system.
And, of course, every game owes a tremendous debt to those
intrepid playtesters who volunteer their services (often over and
over) to be run through the thresher of a half-complete system
working against both itself and its players. Thanks to Jennifer Brinn,
Danny Greenfeld, Seth Brinn, Eric Sedlacek, Sydney Freedberg,
Elizabeth Lower-Basch, Thomas Robertson, Travis Casey and Doug
Ruff for their seemingly limitless stamina for "one more round of
rules changes".
Preface
Roleplaying games, like the one you hold in your hands, have a
mixed pedigree. They are both storytelling and gaming. They
are mutts, not one thing or another but a vigorous, quirky hybrid.
It's no great surprise that so many fans of comic books are also
drawn to roleplaying. Super-hero stories are also a form of
hybrid art. Half high-minded philosophy, half visceral escapism,
the genre has been invented and reinvented for decades.
Serious people with serious concerns have discounted it for all
that time. The argument is that such a hodge-podge of different
goals cannot match the achievements of thoroughbred, unified
art forms like writing and painting.
The point is simple, but is it true?
Preface
I believe that comics and roleplaying both survive, not in spite of

their contradictions but because of them. I don't love super-hero
stories because I am too lazy to read a tract on moral
philosophy and then watch a high-kicking kung-fu movie. I love
them because, at their best, these stories touch the heart in
ways that neither philosophy nor escapism can do alone. The
super-hero genre is at its best when it embraces both halves of
its crossbreed legacy, not as separate goals but as parts of a
single whole. It succeeds precisely by embracing what it is,
rather than pretending to be something else.
It's no coincidence that sounds like the corny tag-line of a fourcolor comic book. Comic book writers aren't stupid. After more
than sixty years of wrestling with their own quirky medium, they
know the nature of what they're attempting.
Roleplaying games need to take the advice of this (slightly)
older sibling. Anyone who plays a roleplaying game believing
that they have to choose between making serious, moving
stories and having a fun, challenging game with clear-cut rules
is missing the point of the medium. It's not this or that it's this
and that. I don't love roleplaying games because I'm too lazy to
tell a story and then play a game of chess. I love them
because, at their best, these story games touch the heart and
stir the blood in ways that neither stories nor games do alone.
In playing this game with experienced roleplayers I have heard
the same comment over and over: "I feel bad about how much I
get into the rules of the game. I don't understand how the
stories turn out so good when we're letting the rules have so
much impact." Even when I explain that they should enjoy the
game as a game, the guilt persists.
If you worry that you're having more fun than you should, or the
wrong type of fun, that's probably a good sign. Fun is the point.
Preface
Roleplaying on Purpose
Roleplaying should be fun. And it should be serious. Doing
both at the same time is a challenge, but well worth the effort.
You won't lack for examples from other parts of your life. If you
play on a committed baseball team then you show up on time,
practice hard and play hard. All of that effort is to help you and
your team-mates have fun. Serious fun.
A group playing Capes will benefit tremendously by bringing the
same focus on serious fun to the table. Little things like starting
on time, ending on time, and concentrating on the game rather
than diversions send a subtle but definite signal that everyone is
there to play. They have a purpose.
Just the beginning

This book contains what you need to play. It doesn't contain
everything you might want in order to play. That would require a
much larger book. Instead of crowding your bookshelf with
things you may or may not want, we've put it on a web-site:
http://www.museoffire.com/Games/
Head right on over for character sheets to simplify tracking your
many characters, introductory rules-sets to entice your friends to
play with you, and a community of like-minded players with
stories and advice to share.
Chapter 1
Core
Rules
What would you do if you could fly?
If you would stay on the ground for fear that something bad
might happen if you flew, then Capes is not the game for you.
If you would watch sunrises from the stratosphere, have lunch
on the backs of statues forty stories up, and race jet-liners for
the sheer exhileration of speed then you've come to the right
place.
11
Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities
Power is Fun...
Superheroes soar through the sky and leap across

city landscapes. They reshape the course of mighty
rivers. They dance untouched when the bullets fall like
rain and sift moon-dust through their bare fingers.
It's the ultimate thrill ride. Don't let anyone tell you
differently.
Players in Capes take on many roles, but playing superheroes

and supervillains is what sets the game apart. And what sets
supers apart is their power.
Powers are, quite simply, for enjoying. If you feel like using one,
don't think twice. That's what the game is about. Lift buildings,
dodge bullets, work miracles.
Superheroes (particularly) have lives with a potent mix of joy
and hardship, and very little in between. Get your joy while you
can. Be a little childish about it. Children know how to have the
best fun.
12
Core Rules
... But do you deserve it?
You've been given a gift the rest of the world cannot

share. No matter how often you save the city, or the
world, you still owe a debt you can never repay.
Playing Capes you take on the role of a superhero.
You'll tell a story and pursue two goals. First, enjoy
your heros powers....
...Second, show that your hero deserves them.
You may, quite reasonably, want to play a character who has

hard times and difficult choices to go along with the childish glee
of super-powers.
Maybe you want this out of a sense of what is dramatically
appropriate. Maybe you just want to make sure that you're not
having more fun than you're supposed to. Not to worry. The
game system keeps things balanced. It calls your debts due.
But it makes you pay them later. You get a nice hefty line of
credit. That way you can use your powers to their utmost,
knowing that the rules will make sure you earn them.
13
How to Pitch the Game

If you have a group of players already itching to play Capes,
great! But if not, your players may be looking for a little bit of a
sales pitch on why they should dedicate several evenings to
playing this game rather than another. Here are several tested
ways to pique players' interest. Pick the one best suited for the
person you're trying to rope in.
t the fun of
emselves: Point ou
th
ll
se
s
oe
er
rh
pe
y are
Su
pective player that the
os
pr
nd
mi
Re
rs.
we
po
super
powers in
required to use those
not only allowed but
e.
-fulfilling ways possibl
the most escapist, wish
Great power, no resp
onsibility:
Point out that Capes
allows any
player to control most
anything.
If your prospective
likes the
power of being in ch
arge of a
game but doesn't
like the
responsibility then Ca
pes offers
them the chance to ha
ve power
when they want it, the
n to relax
and let someone els
e run the
show when they want
to.
Escape from Tyranny:

Explain that there is no
The
Game Master.
's
ody
nob
at
players are
,
ers
oth
h
mercy but eac
a
for
and the only way
player to gain more power
to influence the story is by
helping other players to
tell their own stories.
14
Cons tant involv emen t:

Show the prospective how
Capes, where players can
alway s pick up any
character that's handy,
playe r
every
keeps
,
scene
every
in
involved
and
often in surprising
exciting new ways.
New ways of playing:

Pitch the many powerful
ways that the prospective
can author the story, from
creating Conflicts to writing
up new characters to suit
the needs of the moment.
Core Rules
What you'll Need

To play Capes you need two or more Players. You will be
cooperating to create a comic-book story. You will be competing
to have the most influence on how that story turns out.
The group will need some physical props. You will need a good
handful of dice (of the sugar-cube shaped, six-sided
backgammon variety), in two distinctive colors. At least eight of
each color.
You will need a pack of three-by-five index cards. These will be
used to track the various Conflicts that the heroes and villains
vie for control over. You'll need room to lay out four or five of
them at any one time.
You will need some small tokens to track how endebted your
heroes are for their spectacular power. Poker chips are ideal.
Pennies are good. Small candies are better, if you can resist
munching on them at inappropriate times. These will be called
Debt Tokens, and (later) Story Tokens.
15
What you'll do
As you play Capes you will try to tell a super-hero story. In fact,
if you've got an idea for a story already worked out in your own
head you should probably try to tell that one.
Here's the catch. Everyone else is trying to tell a story too. You
get to tell what happens when it is your turn to narrate, but when
it is their turn the other players will pursue their own agendas.
And they're probably not trying to tell your story. The greatest
random factor in Capes is always the other players. Your ability
to tell your story will depend on how well you can adjust to their
contributions and incorporate them into the shared story.
Who is in charge?
If you have played roleplaying
games then you've probably met
(and may have been) a Game
Master. The Game Master is a
player vested with authority
over everything in the gameworld except the other player's
characters. They are often also
expected to take the lead in
telling the story.
Capes has no Game Master. The
rights and responsibilities of
that role are shared among the
players. Everyone can narrate
things beyond what their
character does. Everyone is
responsible for telling the
story.
This sharing is
structured by the rules system.
16
It's like playing volleyball.

You can have a plan for how
to play, but if your plan is "I
will stand right here until the
ball comes directly to me"
then you're going to lose.
You have to move. You have
to react to what the other
players are doing, and do
your best to get back toward
your own plan. Flexibility is
key.
The same principle applies in
Capes. Nobody is going to
entirely control the story.
Everybody is going to
partially control the story.
You'd better get used to the
notion of reacting to what
other players add to the story.
Core Rules
How the rules help you

If you can narrate absolutely anything then you can very easily
narrate something that another player thinks is unfair in some
way. To maintain any sort of harmony you need to agree to
some limits on what you can narrate, and when.
The rules of Capes help you reach that agreement. Players
introduce Conflicts, which are parts of the story that have been
referred to the rules system for arbitration. Only the person who
wins the Conflict may narrate its conclusion. If something is not
covered by a Conflict then it can be narrated by anyone.
The rules also determine when players narrate. Players play
the game in turns, always going clockwise around the table.
When it's your turn you speak. When it's not you listen. Turns
go very rapidly, so you'll get another turn (of some sort) soon.
One of the resources a player can acquire in the game is a pile
of Story Tokens. These allow the player to take more control of
the turn order. In most situations where each player gets to do
something once (i.e. gets a turn) a Story Token can be spent to
do it again. In this way, Story Tokens give increased authorship.
Terms you are about to read
Scene: Like a scene in a movie or play, this is a place
and time that something happens. Players choose their
roles for the Scene, and may change them every Scene.
Page: A unit of narration inside a Scene. Each page
consists of many actions, at least one per character.
Action: A player using their character to influence the
course of the game. Often an attempt by the character
to control the course of a Conflict.
17
Capes
Rules
Made
Easy
Scenes
p.20
A new scene is declared by the player to the left of the one who
declared the previous. Starting with that character, going
clockwise, players choose a character to play for free. They may
then buy more characters for a Story Token each.
p.22
Pages
At the start of each Page, going clockwise around the table,

players may add Free Conflicts and Claim one side of a Conflict.
They may add or Claim more Conflicts for a Story Token each. In
the same order, they get an action for each of their characters.
Players may then buy more Actions for a Story Token each.
Actions
p.25
In their Action a player may either use an Ability or create a

Conflict. Before and after, they may Stake Debt, Split Dice and/or
spend an Inspiration to raise a die to the Inspiration's value.
Conflicts
p.26
Conflicts start with a die for each side. These start at 1 and change
through play. The highest side controls and narrates the Conflict.
Events
p.28
Goals
By declaring an Event you say

what will occur in the future.
The Resolver narrates how it
happens, when it Resolves.
Resolving
p.29
By declaring a Goal you say

some characters are trying to
do something. The Resolver
narrates whether they succeed.
p.30
After actions, once again in turn order, players look at the Conflicts
they claimed. If the side they claimed Controls a Conflict then they
Resolve it. Losers get back double the Debt they Staked. Winners
give away their Stakes as Story Tokens to the losing characters.
Claimant matches winning and losing dice and gains an Inspiration
equal to the difference for each pair or excess die.
Resources
Debt: Gained by using Powers, or losing Stakes. Spent to Stake.
Story Tokens: Gained by losing Conflicts. Spent for extra roles and actions.
Inspirations: Gained by winning Conflicts. Spent to increase dice.
Drives/Debt
p.32
Debt Tokens go on Drives. Each Drive has a numeric Strength.

If it has more Tokens than Strength it is Overdrawn. At the start
of each Page, for each Overdrawn drive, the player rolls the
highest die the character owns, accepting only lower rolls.
STaking
p.36
Players Stake by moving Debt onto Conflicts. Each character may

Stake one Drive per Conflict, no more Debt than Drive Strength.
SPlitting
p.37
Players may evenly split any die they own into dice totaling the
same value. A side may split to as many dice as it has Stakes.
Abilities
p.38
A super-ability earns a Debt Token each time it is used. Other

abilities are used only once per Scene, but effect no resources.
The ability either raises an Inspiration by a point or rolls any one
die on a Conflict. The ability score must be at least the value of
the Inspiration or die. If they roll a Conflict die then they choose
whether to accept the roll or turn the die back to its original value.
ReactiON
p.40
Any time a roll is accepted, any player (not just the acting one)
may roll that die again by using an Ability of equal or greater value
as a Reaction. No player may React twice on the same action.
Gloating
p.41
If Resolving would violate the group Code the Claimant instead

Gloats. Starting with their highest die on the Conflict they may turn
dice to 1. For each die turned the Resolver earns a Story Token.
Scenes
A new scene is declared by the player to the left of the one who
declared the previous. Starting with that character, going
clockwise, players choose a character to play for free. They may
then buy more characters for a Story Token each.
Many roleplaying games assign authority to play a particular

role once and seldom change it. Players get one character
each, and only influence the story through that character's
actions. A designated Game Master gets every other character,
as well as the responsibility of setting the scene and situation.
Capes is more fluid. Any player can play any character (unless
your game group sets a House Rule 119 that some characters
belong to particular players). They can certainly choose to
create and play any type of character on the spur of the
moment. Players can end up playing one, two or five characters
in a scene. They can play a hero, a villain, a bystander, or all
three at once.
The authority to create a scene also rotates among the players.
When the game begins, someone will just volunteer to be first.
After that the opportunity passes to their left. They can define
the scene as anything they want. If they want their character to
be fighting crime then there's some crime out there for them to
fight. Someone might choose to play criminals, or the criminals
might be just window dressing to the real Conflicts 26 of the
scene. Those Conflicts are always between the characters that
the players choose to portray.
Players choose characters in order. The scene creator chooses
the first character, and then other players do so proceeding
clockwise. If someone has chosen a character you want to play
before it gets to your turn then you are out of luck.
20
Core Rules
Beth
Chris
Alex
David
Beth declares the first scene.

After that plays out, Chris is
the first to have a chance to
declare the next scene. He
declines to do so, and the
opportunity passes to David.
David declares a scene. After
it plays out, Alex is the next
to get a chance to declare.
Chris does not get special
consideration because he had
a chance and didn't use it.
Alex declares that he will play Captain Liberty at a

charity event. Beth takes on the role of Police Chief
Mannelli. Chris wanted to play Mannelli. He takes ace
reporter Liz Livingstone instead. David chooses to
play arch-villain Professor Grim. Alex declines to
spend a Story Token. Beth spends a Story Token to
also play Grim's lackey Brunt. Chris spends a Story
Token and rapidly writes up stats for a group of
Goons, to fill out the villain force. David declines to
spend Story Tokens. The group agrees they have
chosen enough roles and the scene starts.
21
Pages
At the start of each Page, going clockwise around the table,
players may add Free Conflicts and Claim one side of a Conflict.
They may add or Claim more Conflicts for a Story Token each. In
the same order, they get an action for each of their characters.
Each Page tells a distinct chunk of the story, in which characters

try to resolve one or more Conflicts. 26
Each Page also has a different person lead it off. This player is
called the Starter. The Starter will always get to do things first.
Everyone else acts in turn, clockwise from them.
The role of Starter shifts one player clockwise with each new
Page. The Starter for page 2 is the player to the left of the
Starter for page 1.
At the start of the Page, clockwise from the Starter, each player
may put their marker on the side of a Conflict 26 that one of
their characters is Allied 26 with. If they have no character Allied
(particularly for a new Conflict where sides are not yet defined)
they may put the marker on any side. Placing that marker is
known as Claiming the side. At the end of the Page players
may Resolve 30 Conflicts they have Claimed. A second player
may not Claim a side already Claimed this Page. Opposing
players, however, may both Claim opposite sides on the same
Conflict. The first time around the table each player may Claim
once for free. After that it costs a Story Token per extra Claim.
Before or after Claiming, a player may introduce new Conflicts.
If a character and their Exemplar 75 are in the scene together,
the player of either the character or the Exemplar may add the
Free Character Conflict 76 between the two for free.
The player of a non-person character may add that character's
Free Conflict 103 for free.
A player may spend a Story Token at this time to add a Conflict.
22
Core Rules
If this is the turn order

on Page #6
Then this is the turn

order on Page #7
Beth
2nd
Chris
3rd
Alex
1st
David
4th
Beth
1st
Chris
2nd
Alex
4th
Overall Order
David
3rd
Alex, Beth, Chris, David

Beth, Chris, David, Alex
In Page #6 (above), Alex, on behalf of

Captain Liberty, claims the heroic (i.e.
29
opposing) side of "Goal
: Terrorize
Bystanders". Beth spends a Story Token
28
to add the Conflict "Event
Someone gets
to the diamond," and Claims a side for Chief
Mannelli (unofficially marking that as the
"hero" side). Chris, on behalf of lackey
Brunt claims the other side of that same
Event. David, for Professor Grim, claims
the villain side of "Goal: Humiliate Captain
Liberty". Alex spends a Story Token, and
claims the hero side of "Humiliate Captain
Liberty", in addition to his previous Claim.
23
Pages
In the same order, they get an action for each of their characters.
After all players have had a chance to Claim, there is a period of

free narration. Anyone can narrate, just as they would using an
Ability, 38 so long as it does not require rules arbitration. This is
a good time for characters to have conversations, and other
tight interactions that can be slowed by turn order.
The Starter ends free play at any time by taking Actions for each
of her characters. Other players do the same, clockwise.
Once all players have had their free actions, any further actions
in that Page cost a Story Token each. The order is still
clockwise around the table, but many players will (probably)
decline their chance to pay for an action.
There is no limit to how many more actions a player can buy.
When the opportunity has gone around the table once, it goes
around again. Anyone may still buy Actions, both those who
bought the previous round and those who declined.
This phase of the Page ends when a whole round occurs in
which no players wish to buy
more actions.
Alex uses his Action 25 for
Captain Liberty to save some
Because many Pages will
Bystanders. Beth has Mannelli
have no Story Tokens spent
run toward the diamond. Chris
for extra actions, all of the
acts for two characters, having
above is often streamlined.
Brunt reach for the diamond,
Players can agree informally
but Livingstone distracts him.
who wants more actions,
David acts for Professor Grim,
and then have those players
controlling "Humiliate Liberty".
act in clockwise order.
Alex spends a Story Token and
acts for Captain Liberty again,
taking back control.
24
Core Rules
Actions
At any time in their Action a player may spend an Inspiration to
raise a die to the Inspiration's value. Before using an Ability a
player may Stake Debt and Split Dice. One time in their Action
they may either use an Ability or create a Conflict.
For each Action, a player may create a Conflict 26 or use an

Ability. 38 They may only do one of these things, and may only
do so once per Action.
Immediately before and after doing this, the player may do a
number of things. They may use any number of Inspirations
(gained when they Resolve 30 a Conflict). Each Inspiration is for
a particular character or group (e.g. "For the villains", "For Liz
Livingstone") By using their Inspiration the player may raise one
die on that characters side to the value of the Inspiration.
The player may Split 37 Dice on their side of any Conflicts with
enough Staked Debt. They may Stake 36 Debt on any number
of Conflicts that provoke the character to prove themself in the
relevant moral Drive. 26
Before his Action, Chris Stakes
three Debt, 36 Splits 37 one die
into two dice, uses an
Inspiration on one of the dice.
He uses his action to roll the
other die. After his action he
Splits another of his dice in two
(for three total) and uses an
Inspiration on the lowest. He
also Stakes Debt on an
unrelated Conflict, and Splits it.
The player may do any of

these things, in any order, as
often as they can afford to.
They may do so before their
Action, or after, or both. They
may not do any of these things
during the Action itself, or
during any Reactions.
25
Conflicts
Conflicts start with a die for each side. These start at 1 and change
through play. The highest side controls and narrates the Conflict.
A Conflict is a situation where things could turn out (at least) two
different ways, and characters are vying to control the outcome.
Index cards with the name of the Conflict on them are used for
tracking them and providing a place to keep the dice. Each
Conflict starts with two dice. Before being rolled the dice don't
represent any particular side. Once someone rolls one, it now
represents their side. Any character that has tried to roll up a
die on a side or roll down a die opposing the side is Allied with
that side until they ally with another side in the same Conflict.
No player may narrate how the Conflict turns out in the story
until they have successfully Resolved 30 the Conflict in the rules.
This is called the "Not Yet" Rule. If a player is about to violate
this rule other players can remind them with a gentle "Not Yet".
Whichever side has the highest total has Control of the Conflict.
This lets them take advantage of the "And Then" Rule. Any
time anything is narrated about the Conflict, the narration must
be finished by someone allied with the Controlling side. If the
character who acted is not on that side then at some point the
player must say "And Then..." and invite a controlling player to
end the narration. That second player narrates what happens
after, that sours earlier efforts and makes the situation worse.
Whenever a player tries to control a Conflict they will narrate
what their character does, and may, if they choose, narrate how
well they succeed. The only limits on what they can narrate are
the rules above. If a player wants their character to lift a
building then they can lift a building. Nobody has to debate with
them whether the building is too heavy, unless it's relevant to a
rule above. Players are free to have their characters do
absolutely anything, but not to achieve absolutely anything.
26
Core Rules
Roger Rocket is trying to restart his

spaceship. He creates an Event
conflict, "The ship is a bare second
from crashing". If it turns out in his
favor than he restarts the engines
at the very last moment and soars
off to further glory. If not, he fails
and nose-dives into the planet. Until
that Conflict is
Sylvia, occult bounty-hunter, is in
resolved, the ship
combat with a Demon Dog. She creates
cannot be turned
a Goal conflict, "Beat down the dog". On
away from the planet
her action she narrates drawing a huge
and cannot crash.
revolver while she dodges the beast's
jaws, and filling the infernal canine with
bullets containing holy water. She
doesn't have to check whether she can
hit the dog, or dodge its blows.
Anything she wants to do she can do.
But that doesn't mean the hell-puppy is
down for the count. Only when the
Grey Control
Conflict is resolved will it be clear how
badly the dog has been beat down.
White Control
Tied
Captain Roscoe, Subterranean Pirate,

tries to control the "Take over GopherMan Galleon" Conflict. He fails to gain
Control. His player describes how he
swings from the rigging, and fights ten
Gopher-sailors single-handedly. "And
then..." the player says, and gestures
to Bob, in the role of the GopherCaptain. Bob describes how Captain
Roscoe bravely leaps onto the cover of
a cargo hold, which collapses under
his weight, dumping him unceremoniously
into the depths of the ship.
27
Events are one of the two types

of Conflicts. 26 When a player
declares an Event they establish
By declaring an Event you say
what will occur in the future.
something that will happen in the
The Resolver narrates how it
future of the story. Any player
happens, when it Resolves.
may veto any Event for any
reason, or for no reason at all. The player may not declare an
Event that has been vetoed, but they may offer another Event or
do something else with their Action. The best way to get an
Event accepted is to make it so vague that either side of the
Conflict could take advantage of it.
Events
Once an Event is declared it absolutely, positively, will come to

pass. What players fight to influence are the details. The player
who controls it and resolves it gets to narrate how it comes to
pass and what the consequences are, but no player may decide
that the Event doesn't happen as described.
A player Resolves 30 a "Building
Collapses" Event. They do not
decide whether or not the building
collapses. It has to collapse. But
they decide who it collapses onto.
Declaring an Event.
"The Bomb Explodes."
28
Veto.
Okay... how about "The

Countdown gets to
one second remaining"?
And then the bomb

either explodes or gets
disarmed? Cool.
Core Rules
Goals are one of the two types

of Conflicts. 26 When a player
Goals
declares a Goal they state
By declaring a Goal you say
some characters are trying to
something that someone is
do something. The Resolver
trying to make happen in the
narrates whether they succeed.
future of the story. If that side
resolves the Goal then the character or group succeeds,
otherwise they fail. Failing in a Goal does not mean that anyone
else gets to achieve anything against the character. It only
means that their attempt has been thwarted. That character
may not attempt the same Goal again in that Scene.
A player may veto a Goal only under specific circumstances.
They may veto the Goal if it is being declared for a character
they are currently playing and they don't want to pursue that
Goal. And any player may veto a Goal that is very prone to
Gloating, 41 if a Gloat-worthy Conflict for that side is already
active and unresolved. Otherwise, if they want to prevent the
Goal from being achieved then they should work through the
rules to oppose the Conflict and resolve it.
Technically there is no such thing as a "for" or "against" side of a
Conflict. The sides are defined by who rolls which dice, and
what narrative goals they pursue in doing so. A Goal could
easily have two sides, both of whom wanted the Goal to
succeed, but who had two very different ideas of how it should
succeed.
However, in the normal course of things, one side will want the
Goal to succeed and one will want it to fail. Players commonly
refer, in such a case, to rolling "For" or "Against" the Goal.
29
Resolving
After actions, once again in turn order, players look at the Conflicts
they claimed. If the side they claimed Controls the Conflict then
they Resolve it. Losers get back double the Debt they Staked.
Winners give away their Stakes as Story Tokens to the losing
characters. Claimant matches winning and losing dice and gains
an Inspiration equal to the difference for each pair or excess die.
Note that players may never keep Debt Tokens 32 from one of
their own characters as Story Tokens, even if they also played a
different character on the losing side of the Conflict. 26
If the character who created the Conflict is on the losing side,
and they are being played by someone other than the Resolver
then the first Story Token must go to that player.
In the rare case that no player except the Resolver has a
character allied with any losing side, Story Tokens cannot be
awarded. Instead the Tokens are discarded.
When a losing character must take back Debt, all the Debt they
take back returns to the Drive from which it was Staked.
When the Resolver matches one of their dice against a greater
opposing die, the result is not a negative Inspiration. It is a
positive Inspiration for the opposing character or group. The
Resolver chooses which character on the opposing side
receives the Inspiration. They may award it to themself if they
played characters on both sides of the fight.
Matching exactly equal dice creates no Inspiration.
If a Conflict is tied, and no means is available in the rules to
break the tie in future Pages (i.e. nobody can spend more Debt,
and the dice are all sixes) then it is Deadlocked. Players
collaborate on narrating the resolution of a Deadlocked Conflict.
All Staked Debt (on all sides) is treated as having lost. All dice
are converted to Inspirations directly, without matching.
30
Core Rules
Metamorph and Doctor Phantom are contesting an

Event "Peggy Sue falls toward the active volcano".
Metamorph stakes three Love, Doctor Phantom stakes
two Despair. Both Claim their sides of the Event.
At the end of the page, Metamorph has dice of 6, 4
and 2. Doctor Phantom has dice of 4 and 2. With a
total of 12 to 6, Metamorph Resolves the Event. Peggy
Sue falls toward the volcano, only to be saved mere
inches above the bubbling lava by the flying hero.
Doctor Phantom takes back four points of Debt

for his Despair Drive. Metamorph takes his
three Staked Debt Tokens and gives them to the
Doctor as Story Tokens.
A single, six-point, Inspiration

for Metamorph.
Two 4-point Inspirations for

Metamorph, and one two-point
Inspiration for Doctor Phantom.
31
Drives/Debt
Debt Tokens go on Drives. Each Drive has a numeric Strength.
If it has more Tokens than Strength it is Overdrawn. At the start
of each Page, for each Overdrawn drive, the player rolls the
highest die the character owns, accepting only lower rolls.
The Premise of Capes is "Power is fun, but do you deserve it?"

Debt measures the gap between how much a character needs
to prove his worth and how much he has done so. As you have
fun with your power you accumulate Debt. As you prove
yourself in morally charged situations you lose Debt.
Players may put Debt they earn from Abilities on any Drive, no
justification needed. But when they Stake Debt, 36 it must be on
a Conflict that is morally charged for that particular character
and Drive. Story descriptions of the Drives are on the following
pages.
Debt Staked on a Conflict 26 is not counted as being on a Drive.
It is on the Conflict, and not counted toward Overdraw.
When a character is Overdrawn their doubts are strong enough
to effect performance they may even start to act in a selfdestructive or irrational manner.
32
Core Rules
Iron Gauntlet uses his

"Steam-Strength" to lift a
building. He takes the
Debt in Hope, just because.
Later he Stakes two
points of Hope on "Goal:
Find who framed us for
murder", reasoning that
his reputation is a vital
part of his connection to
the common man.
Magnet Master, heavily overdrawn in

Fear, rolls down the die on a
Clobbering Conflict his side
controls. His minion was on the
edge of beating Captain Liberty.
"No!" Magnet Master cries, slapping
the minion aside, "It must be ME who
defeats him! I will make him know
the meaning of fear!"
Captain
Liberty takes advantage of this
confusion to get the upper hand.
33
Heroic Drives
Justice
How much the hero's story

revolves around
laws, codes of
conduct and
rebellion
revolves around identity,
honesty and
secrets
Truth
Love

revolves around friends,
rivals, and
romance.
Hope

revolves around the safety,
needs and doubts
of the common
man
Duty
revolves around the

responsibilities that they
alone can and must fulfill
34
Core Rules
Villainous Drives
Obsession
Pride
How much the villain's

story revolves around
proving their
superiority.

story revolves
around a single
plan or theory they
keep harping on.
Power
Despair

dominating and
being dominated.

destroying the
hope of others.
Fear

story revolves
around fear
and bravery.
35
STaking
Players Stake by moving Debt onto Conflicts. Each character may
Stake one Drive per Conflict, no more Debt than Drive Strength.
The Premise of Capes is "Power is fun, but do you deserve it?"

As characters (heroic and villainous) use their powers they feel
more drawn to prove themselves. In this game that is a law of
nature.
They prove themselves by showing that their philosophy
(whether heroic, like "If you're good to people things will turn out
alright" or villainous, like "All that matters is power, and getting
more of it") is borne out by actual events.
So the hero wants to prove that being nice to people turns out
all right in the end. If it does, he feels vindicated. If it doesn't,
his doubts are redoubled. Literally, since he gets back twice the
Debt Tokens 32 if the Conflict 26 is Resolved 30 against him.
When a character Stakes Debt, it must be on a Conflict that can
be morally charged for that particular character and Drive.
Debt currently Staked on a Conflict is not counted as being on
a Drive.
Solar Huntsman has a Duty

Drive of Strength 3. On his
Action he Stakes two points
of Duty Debt on "Goal: Track
Prey". In a later action he
Stakes one more point of
Duty, bringing his total on
the Conflict to 3. He could
not Stake either two more
points of Duty or any tokens
from a different Drive.
36
Nocturne has a Pride Drive of 2.

She has four Tokens on that
Drive. It is Overdrawn. 32 She
Stakes one point of Pride on
"Goal: Humiliate Kid Swift" and
two points of Pride on "Event:
Nocturne Activates the Lunar
Agitator". Without those three
points, she now has only one on
the Drive. It is not Overdrawn.
Core Rules
SPlitting
Players may evenly split any die they own into dice totaling the
same value. A side may split to as many dice as it has Stakes.
The main reason to Stake Debt 36 on a Conflict 26 is to Split the

dice. Two dice can roll from two to twelve, while one can roll
only one to six. When one side has more dice than the other
they have a statistical advantage.
So long as they end up with no more dice than they have
Stakes, a side can split a die into two (or more, if they've got a
lot of debt) dice. This split must be done as evenly as possible.
The other use for Staking is that if you disagree with the side
you've been supporting so far, you can split off and form your
own side. Players may not split dice on a side with no Debt, or
only one Debt Staked. But by Staking a single point of Debt a
character may choose to create an entirely new side. They split
a die from the side they're leaving, and leave one of the
resulting dice (usually the smallest) on that side. The other die
or dice go to found the new side the player is creating.
Maximus has a die currently
at a five on the "Event: A
Champion is chosen". He
Stakes two Duty tokens. He
now has one die and two
tokens staked. He splits
his five into a two and a
three. He cannot choose to
split either into a 4 and a 1
(too uneven) or into a 2, a 2
and a 1 (that would be more
dice than Stakes)
Zero-G and Jetstream are both

rolling up their chances to catch
spunky love interest Rachel when
"Event: Rachel falls from balcony"
30
Resolves . They have a 5 on their
one die. The villains have only a 4.
Zero-G decides that he'll only be
happy if he is the one to rescue
Rachel. He Stakes a point of Love
Debt and splits their 5 into a 3
and 2. He takes the 3, leaving
the 2 for Jetstream. Now, at 4,
the villains Control 26 the Event.
37
Abilities
A super-ability earns a Debt Token each time it is used. Other
abilities are used only once per Scene, but effect no resources.
Each ability has a cost for using it. It either gives you a Token of
Debt 32 (which can be a good or a bad thing) or the Ability
"Blocks" for the rest of the Scene 20 . Once a Blocking Ability
has been used once in a Scene it cannot, under any
circumstances, be used again. Abilities that give Debt may be
used Page after Page, for more and more Debt, though each
Ability can only be used once on any given Page.
Players can put their Debt in any Drive 32 they want, without
need for justification. A Power need not be used in pursuit of
Justice to put Debt on a Justice drive, for instance.
Abilities
The ability either raises an Inspiration by a point or rolls any one
die on a Conflict. The ability score must be at least the value of
the Inspiration or die. If they roll a Conflict die then they choose
whether to accept the roll or turn the die back to its original value.
The Player may roll any die, on any side of a Conflict. They will
generally accept rolls that raise their dice or lower their enemy's.
Whether the player accepts the die they rolled or not, they
always narrate what happens. The Ability they used must be
central. They can add anything else as well, so long as the one
Ability that they used has a position of importance. The player
can (and often should) tell not only what they're trying to do, but
whether and how they succeed or fail. This will often involve a
response from other characters (if only "Ouch!") The narrator
may choose either to have the player of the effected character
narrate (under the original narrators direction) or to momentarily
take on the role of the character in question themself.
Players have complete freedom to narrate, except where the
Conflict 26 rules override that freedom.
38
Core Rules
Flare uses her Laser Eye Beams.

It is a super power, so she takes
a point of Debt. 32 She puts it in
Love, because she's already got
one there, and two are more cozy.
Flare's side has a two on

their die in a "Clobbering"
Goal. 29 Flare rolls a one.
She wants a high number,
so a one is no use to her.
She picks up the die and
turns it back to a two.
She tells what happens: "Flare's

eyes glow. A bolt of blazing energy
leaps from them and strikes Prang
the Indomitable dead center. He is
flung back through three buildings,
landing in a heap of rubble."
And Then 26 , since Prang's

side controls the Conflict he
narrates: "Prang stands,
brushing rubble off himself.
'Is that the best you can
do?' he asks with a smirk."
Prang has a level 3 Inspiration from beating Flare

previously. He uses his Level 5 Obnoxious ability to
raise it. It is now a level 4 Inspiration. He narrates
further mocking Flare's weakness.
Flare pays a Story Token 22 for another Action. 25 She wants to
roll the four on her opponent's die in "Clobbering". She's used her
level 4 Laser Eye Beams this Page and may not use them again.
She'd like to use her level 3 Super Speed, but needs an Ability of 4
or more. She uses her Level 5 "Arrogant" Attitude. Now she can't
use that again in this Scene. Rolling the die she gets another one.
This time she keeps it. She wants her enemy's dice low.
The player narrates: " 'The best I can do is way more than you
could survive! But try this on for size!' Flaree says. She
fires a blast so powerful that nearby onlookers are
temporarily blinded, and the entire city is lit with blazing light."
Her side now Controls, so Prang gets no "And Then" response.
39
ReactiON
Any time a roll is accepted, any player (not just the acting one)
may roll that die again by using an Ability of equal or greater value
as a Reaction. No player may React twice on the same action.
Reaction is the player's chance to try to fix a roll that didn't go

the way they wanted. Any time an initial Ability 38 roll is
accepted, every player gets a chance to use a Reaction for a
second roll on that same die. If the first roll in an Action is not
accepted, nobody gets to React. As with an Action, the Ability
used must be at least as high as the value of the die.
The acting player has first chance at a Reaction, and then the
opportunity passes around the table clockwise, as many times
as needed. If a player foregoes their right to React at first they
may still React later, after other players. But once they React
they cannot React again.
Reactions do not interrupt or replace the narration that the
acting player has already said. They happen in addition to the
narration of the action, not instead of it.
After Flare rolls one of his
dice down to a one, Prang
uses his "Invulnerable"
(level 2) Power as a
Reaction. Because he is
using a Power he takes a
Debt Token. 32 He rolls the
die, getting a 3. "When the
light fades away, Prang is
still standing there," he
narrates. "His steel-tough
skin is a match for any
damage Flare can dish out."
40
Flare uses her level 3 "Mock

Innocence" Attitude as her own
Reaction, after Prang's. She
rolls a four, and does not
accept it. "Flare flashes Prang
an innocent look and a cute little
good-bye wave. Then she blasts
the support columns of the
building. It collapses on him."
Prang's player narrates "And
then 26 he rises from the rubble
and throws a huge block of
concrete at Flare."
Core Rules
Gloating
If Resolving would violate the group Code the Claimant instead
Gloats. Starting with their highest die on the Conflict they may turn
dice to 1. For each die turned the Resolver earns a Story Token.
Each group has a set of guidelines, often unstated, about what

lines will not be crossed. For instance, villains can (and should)
try to destroy the world, but it makes for a strange game if they
actually do it. The Comics Code, 113 created jointly by the group,
tries to get these assumptions out into the open. The Gloating
mechanic rewards villains richly for being villainous, while
guaranteeing them that doing so will not ruin anyone's fun.
A game's Comic Code includes "The world will not be
destroyed". Joe, playing Tyrranor, intergalactic
warlord, prepares his battle-fleet to fire on Earth,
reducing it to drifting rubble. He creates the Event
"Battle-fleet Fires", and Stakes three Power.
Tyrranor Resolves "Battle-fleet Fires Weapons" with a
6, 4 and 1 on his dice. He chooses to reduce his six
and 4 down to ones, taking two Story Tokens. He now
has a total of three on three dice. The Event stays
on the table. Joe narrates how Tyrranor Gloats about
how helpless the heroes of Earth are against him.
Next turn, the heroes Stake a whole lot of Debt. They
control and resolve "Battle-fleet fires" by undermining
the computer tracking system. When Tyrranor gives
the order to fire the battle-fleet, instead of
targetting earth, blasts itself to space-dust. In
addition to the two earlier Story Tokens, Joe now
receives their Staked Debt as Story Tokens.
Tyrannor takes back six points of Debt in Power from
his lost Stake, and is immediately Overdrawn.
41
Chapter 2
Example
of Play
What does a game of Capes look like, anyway?
Every game will look different. Each group will use the rules to
achieve different goals and tell different stories. But the rules
lend themself to certain patterns and strategies. This chapter
will follow a fictional group of players as they play a few scenes.
43
Training Battle Rescue
Spotlight characters
The players decide they would like to each have a
Spotlight Character 119 that is distinctly their own. These
characters are super-heroes, and are expected to be the
main focus of the story.
Alex creates a hero with
the Freeform system. 72
It takes a long time, and
he has to make sure the
character works as a
whole. But he has total
control.
Chris creates a hero using the Click and Lock system.

It's quick and easy, but he sacrifices some control.
Speedster
Super-speed
Move someone out of

the way
Trustworthy
Accelerated Reflexes
Rapid recovery
Do many things at once
Faster than the laws of physics
44
Trail of Disruptions
Desperate Effort
Fast enough to try
another plan
Angsty Nice Guy

Shy
Selfless
Sincere
Wry humor
Secretly hurting
79
Example of Play
Beth combines elements from several Click and Lock

modules, and adds her own. She uses Click and
Lock 79 as an initial inspiration, then finishes the
character in the Freeform System. 72 This lets her get
a quick start, but also personalize the end result.
Crusader
Face down
hypocrites
Inspired
Determined
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Martial Artist
Named techniques
Frustrated
Reckless
Acrobatics
Combat intuition
Precision strikes
Focussed battle aura
Ninja stealth
Improvised weaponry
Intimidate
Brains over brawn
Screw the rules
Psychotic Loner
Furious
Denial
Abrasive
Uncomfortable
Confident
The players next define Drives 74 for the characters.

Alex chooses three Justice, two Love, two Duty, one
Hope and one Truth for Captain Liberty.
Alex gives the Captain a Love Exemplar 75 Liz
Livingstone, with free Event "Liz is about to die". Zip
also chooses a Love Exemplar, Jenny, with free Goal
"Be on time to mee with Jenny". Beth creates
Captain Foster, a policeman enraged by her methods.
Chris wants a second Exemplar. He asks Beth
whether they can share 77 Foster. Beth agrees, and
Foster becomes Zip's Duty Exemplar as well as her
Justice Exemplar. Beth can now create a different
character to act as her one unshared Exemplar.
45
Alex: Who should set the first Scene? 20

Beth: Who's got an idea?
Chris: Start of the game, we need to use
some super-powers. 130 I'll play Zip, training
in the Freedom Society gymnasium.
Beth: Night Maiden will be there too.
Turn Order
2
Alex
Chris
1
Beth
3
Alex: Captain Liberty too. We're just narrating 22 until Chris

takes first action. 25 Captain Liberty is bench-pressing massive
bars of depleted uranium.
Chris (Zip): Zip is blazing through the drills Liberty assigned
him. "Come on, come on!" he says as the robotic obstacle
course takes a whole second to set itself for his next sequence.
Beth (Night Maiden): "Where's the fire, squirt?" Night Maiden
says as she uses her staff to beat the stuffing out of yet another
training-droid. "Late for a hot date?"
Chris (Zip): Hey, that's a good idea! Let me see... "No! Well,
sort of... well Jenny said she might be going to see Return of the
Slime Ninjas and it starts in ten minutes." Introducing my Free
Exemplar Goal 76 of "Be on time to meet with Jenny".
Beth: You don't get it for free if she's
not in the scene, do you?
Chris: Oh, right. Okay, I'll start the
Actions, 22 and use my Action 25 to
declare a Goal 29 of "Get out of
practice early".
Alex (Captain Liberty): Captain
Liberty scowls. "Dates with... girls...
are all very well, but your training
regimen has been calculated to
maximize your ability as a crimefighter. That has to come first." I'm
using his "Heroism by the Numbers"
Style 38 to roll, oh... the black die on
"Get out early". I get a four.
46
Heroism
by the
numbers
Example of Play
Chris: I'm going to use Zip's SuperSpeed to React 40 to your four.

Alex:
Debt
Superspeed
Superstrength
32
Where are you putting the

for using the power?
Chris: Hope. 34 I roll a two. You

still Control. 26 Zip runs three sets
of obstacle courses before even
replying. "I've already done, like,
two thousand repetitions. Another
couple of hundred won't make any
difference!" And then.... 26
Alex: Captain Liberty turns and
gives him The Look. "It might be
the difference between life and
death for an innocent in need."
Chris: Nobody does guilt like the
Captain.
Alex: Okay. I'm using Superstrength to React. 40 Debt in Justice.

Cap bench-presses the weight of a
dozen cars, and says "We all have
different strengths... you must learn to hone yours." I roll a four.
Chris: Ouch!
Beth: If you two are done reacting... Night Maiden says
"What's with all this 'must' talk? We're volunteers, remember.
Who appointed you head of training anyway?" I'd like to create
a Goal 29 of "Assert authority" for Captain Liberty. Any
objections, Alex?
Alex: Nope. Sounds like just
what he's trying to do. Nice
Preventative Goal. 126 Now I'll
have to fight for it. There's
nothing to Resolve, so that's
pretty much the Page.
47
Beth: Chris was Starter last page. So Alex

is Starter on this one. 22
Alex: Yep. I'm Claiming
in "Get out early".
22
1
Alex
the black side
Beth: No claims for me, thanks.

Chris: I'll claim the white side in "Assert
Authority".
Chris
3
Beth
2
Alex: Arghh.... and you act last, 127 so you can choose whether
to defend "Get out early" or to rebuke Liberty on authority.
Chris: Poor you. Decisions, decisions. In the meantime, Zip is
cocking his head and looking at Liberty funny. "Yeah," he
agrees, "who did appoint you to be the boss of me, anyway? I
come in, I work out, I save lives, same as you!"
Beth: "You'd think that'd be enough."
Alex: I can see I'd better declare an
action 24 , before you guys totally
double-team me. Captain Liberty
rises quickly, tossing aside the
massive weight as he paces over
toward the other two.
Super38
strength on Assert Authority.
I roll
a two.
Chris: I'm Reacting
with Rapid
Recovery. Zip is intimidated, but
gets over it quickly. Debt 38 in Hope.
I roll a five, which I will not accept.
Back to a two. And then... 26
38
Alex: Liberty is close enough to

loom physically over the smaller Zip.
The teen can almost hear the Star
Spangled Banner playing
I'm
reacting with "Inspire Patriotism".
Debt in Justice. I get... a four, which I
will accept. Beth? Any reaction?
48
Super
strength
Rapid
Recovery
Inspire
Patriotism
Example of Play
Pipe-Staff
Beth: No thanks. You guys want to

drown yourself in debt, go right
ahead. I'll catch up later. I'm using
"Pipe-staff" on the opposing die of
"Assert Authority". Debt in Duty.
Night Maiden whips the staff around
in a vicious circle that decapitates
one of the combat droids. Its head
arcs over to land in the Captain's
hands. "You're right," she says,
"We've all got talents. And we all
know how to practice them. Maybe
the kid doesn't need your help." I
roll a three... so... And then....
Alex: "Well that's up to Zip to decide, isn't it?"

Chris: Oh, hey, leave me out of this.... Oh... my action. Right.
Uh... "Look, I don't have any problem with someone giving
orders. But at the same time... well, what you're asking is wrong!
We shouldn't be just hiding here. We need to be out there too,
with normal people." Staking 36 my two Hope tokens on "Get out
Early", and rolling it with
Sincere. I get... a three, which
is not enough. And then...
Alex: "Are you saying going to
the mall is a moral imperative?"
Chris: Okay, Reacting with
Desperate Effort. "Well... yeah!
Morality isn't all blowing horns
and waving flags! Sometimes
it's about getting out there and
not being scared to be human!"
I roll... phew! A six!
Sincere
Desperate
Effort
Alex: Well, I can't react to that.

My claim doesn't Resolve. 30
Chris: Mine either.
49
Beth: My turn to Start a page! I claim the

opposing side of "Assert Authority".
Chris: I'll claim my side in "Get out Early".
Alex
Alex: Claiming Liberty's side of "Assert

Authority". He says. "I'm not afraid to be
human. Is that what you think of me?" He
looks confused, and a little hurt.
Chris
2
Beth
1
Chris: "I...uh..." Beth! Save me! I'm floundering!

Beth: Oh fine. Staking 36 a point of Duty in "Assert Authority".
Rolling with "Abrasive", I get a five! "Hell yes!" Night Maiden
says. "Nobody else has the guts to tell you to your face! I've
never met anyone so committed to throwing away their own
happiness and everyone else's in the quest for perfection!"
Alex: Aggh! That begs a Reaction
with Perfectionist, but it's only a level
four Attitude. I'll let it go.
Chris: Thank you! Splitting 37 my
six into two threes, and rolling one of
them with Accelerated Reflexes.
Debt in Love. Zip picks up on his
chance to skeedaddle instantly.
"Well, you two have a lot to discuss,
I'll just be going!" And I roll... a five!
Split the Die
Alex: Time to assert my authority.

I'm Staking 36 two Justice in Assert
Authority and Splitting 37 my four into
two twos. Rolling one of them with Tense, I get a one.
Accelerated
Reflexes
Beth: Fortune frowns on you.

Alex: I'll accept that and React, but narration first. Captain
Liberty snaps back at Night Maiden "I am not afraid of being
human. I have to stand apart because more is expected of me!
I'd gladly go mix with the common people, if I could." And
then....
50
Example of Play
Beth: "So do it! What's stopping

you?"
Alex: Reacting
yeah! A five!
Tense
Patriotic
Intimidate
Reacts
40
40
with Patriotic. Oh
Beth: Nice roll!

Alex: "Just a little thing called... The
American Dream!" Liberty intones.
"I guard Millenium City so parents
can raise their kids and dream of a
future without crime and hate!"
Beth: Very stirring.

with Intimidation, at 5. I roll... a two.
Night Maiden
Alex: No! I was so close!

Beth: Well, you're toast now. "I am sick of you dodging your
own problems with platitudes. You get your red, white and blue
backside out into the city, and you find someone to spend time
with who isn't a criminal, a victim or a cop. And you don't give
any orders around here until you have!"
Alex: I already Reacted. I can't do it again.
save me? You know it's the right thing to do.
40
Chris, will you
Chris: Cap's on his own. I think Night Maiden's got a point.

Beth: So it Resolves 30 for me. Three point Inspiration for Night
Maiden, two point for Liberty. Alex, you also get the Duty Token
I Staked as a Story Token. Enjoy it in good health.
Alex: While I take back four Tokens in Justice. Overdrawn.
Chris: I Resolve 30 "Get Done Early". Match the three with the
four, for a 1-point Inspiration for Liberty. Here you go, Alex. And
the unopposed five is for Zip. Alex, you get the Inspiration and
two more Story Tokens from me.
Alex: Captain Liberty says "I see I'm not wanted here," and flies
out the sky-light.
Chris: "Maybe you were a bit hard on him..." Zip says. " We
should... Whoa! I'll be late for the movie!" And he dashes out.
51
Scene 2: Battle Royale

Alex: Well that hurt.
Chris: You got two Inspirations, three Story Tokens and four
Debt. Mucho resources! What are you complaining about?
Alex: Oh, I don't know, maybe the abject humiliation.
Beth: Well Chris defined the last Scene 36 so it's your turn.
Make something where he can prove himself. I'm eager to get
my hands on some of the Story Tokens you'll be giving out. 132
Alex: You're not even trying to hide your selfish motive! No
easy Story Tokens for you! I'm going to play Cap's Love
Exemplar, 75 Ace Reporter Liz Livingstone. Give me a minute
to assemble some Click and Locks.
jOURNALIST
Photograph
Write
Investigate
Interview
Notice
Crusader
Fast-talk
Inspired
Face down
hypocrites
Determined
Pointed question
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Frustrated
Press Pass
Reckless
Alex: Here we go. She's interviewing eccentric millionaire...

uh... Henry Harrison, about the... Egyptian artifacts his
archaeology teams uncovered and brought back. Who wants to
play Harrison?
Beth: No thanks. Chris, what d'you think? Magic villains?
Chris: Magic-based origin anyway. You first.
Beth: Okay... let's call him... Black Scarab. This'll...
Alex: Wait! What's with the villains? I didn't order any villains!
Chris: No, you didn't, and yet you get to benefit from our selfish
creativity anyway. We want Story Tokens. Liz doesn't have any
Debt, and she never will, so we won't get them from her. We're
making a situation where Cap will get involved.
52
Example of Play
Beth: And my villain's done! Black Scarab...

Master of
Natural Force
Magnetic blast
Joyful
Thrill Junky
Move metal
Become magnetism
The example is written for
a master of magnetism.
With slight modification it
fits those who control Fire,
Ice, Weather, Technology,
Air, Electricity, and so on.
Hotshot
Trap opponent
Force Field
Metal shapes
Control everything
at once
Escape without a
scratch
Unflappable
Indirect action
Talkative
Bored
Rebellious
Chris: But you're not using Magnetism, right?

Beth: No, his natural force is Bugs. Blasts of Bugs, turn into a
swarm of Bugs, have hordes of bugs pick things up, like that.
Alex: Wow... major ick factor. Very nice.
Chris: And, lacking any better idea, I'll play a mummy. Pharoah
Ahkten-Hod, Hod to his friends, not that he has any.
Brick
Inhuman
Massive property
damage
Super-leap
Curious
Misunderstand
humanity
Titanic Punch
Confused
Hit 'em with the scenery
Invulnerability
Logical
See the big picture
Super-strength
Cold
Superior
If it doesn't fit, force it
Great leverage from tiny handhold
Alex: Okay, now I'm all curious about why these guys are even
here. I'll pay a Story Token 20 and play another character.
Beth: Captain Liberty?
Alex: Not yet. I'm playing a Situation,
Mystery
111
Mystery.
Free Event: Answers are Revealed
Obvious Untruth
Apparent Lead
Two facts are connected
Contradiction
Theory proven wrong
Talkative
Desperate
Reluctant
Wary
Evasive
53
Alex: I'll add the Free 102 "Answers are

revealed" Event on the Mystery, and Claim
the white die. Harrison is taking Liz on a
tour of the artifacts.
Beth: "... and, of course, apart from their
beauty these artifacts tell us many new
things about the reign of the little-known
Pharoah Khuffi in Ancient Egypt."
1
Alex
Chris
3
Beth
2
Alex: Acting for Liz, 22 rolling "Answers are Revealed" with

Interview. "How do you respond to rumors that Khuffi was a
dark sorceror, and that the curse on these items caused the
death of Doctor Standish?" I roll a three.
Chris: You're going for the Inspiration?
134
Alex: As long as you guys are making

your own plans, I might as well do myself
some good. Reacting off of Mystery,
using "Obvious Untruth". Harrison replies
"I haven't heard anything about a curse,"
but his eyes dart toward a jeweled scepter
in the shape of a jackal's head. I roll a
two, which I won't accept.
Interview
Obvious
Untruth
Reluctant
Beth: Reacting off of Liz?

Alex: Can't. One Reaction
not one to a character.
40
to a player,
Beth: Ah, right. My turn then?

Alex:
I still have an Action off of
Mystery. 22 Rolling up with "Reluctant". Liz looks at him
skeptically. "You haven't read the news about your own
artifacts?" Harrison backpedals "I meant to say I hadn't heard
any reliable research on the Staff of Souls. I don't listen to every
rumor printed in the papers." I roll a four.
54
Example of Play
Beth: My turn at last! There is a buzzing, rattling sound coming

from outside the doors of Harrison's little trophy hall. The doors
burst open, and a swarm of flying locusts fill the room. Slowly
they resolve into a tight swarm near the door, next to a... Chris,
how would you describe your villain?
Chris: Shambling, dessicated, linen-wrapped corpse.
Beth: Yeah. Next to that, the bugs form into a mass, then a
man-like shape, and then a man in a stylish suit and sunglasses
emerges from the mass. "About that Sceptre," he says "We'll
just be taking that, if you please." Creating "Goal: Get Sceptre".
Massive
property
damage
Unflappable
Pointed
question
Chris: And for my action I'll roll up our

side of that. "Enough talk!" Ahkten-Hod
rasps. He grabs a display cabinet and
throws it across the room, destroying
millions of dollars worth of artifacts. "We
take the Sceptre, and fulfill the curse!"
Rolling with Massive Property Damage,
and
taking
the
Debt
on
his
74
Undifferentiated
stack. I get... a one.
Beth: Not a problem. Reacting with
Unflappable. In the midst of all this
destruction, Black Scarab just sighs. "My
friend Hod is used to the whole grovelling
bit. You might want to get to that, right
quick." I get a four.
Alex:
Reacting the four with Liz's
"Pointed Question". "But you plan to kill us either way, right?" I
get a one. Take that!
Chris: I'm not Reacting. Hod bellows "Yes! All who violate
Khuffi's laws must die!"
Alex: And I Resolve 30 "Answers are Revealed"... which we
pretty much just narrated anyway. I subtract the one die from
the four, and it's a three point Inspiration for Liz.
55
Beth: And now I get to Start. 22 I'm not

claiming Get Sceptre... got to have
something to entice the Captain in with.
Chris: Likewise. No Claim. The mummy
staggers forward, toward the Sceptre.
Alex: I'll claim my side of "Get Sceptre".
Liz says "If we're going to die anyway, I'd
rather go out fighting!"
3
Alex
Chris
2
Beth
1
Beth: Taking my action. "Darling," Black Scarab says, looking

pityingly over his sunglasses, "You don't stand a chance. Best
to just give up. There are things worse than death, if you make
us angry enough." Adding "Goal: Crush Liz's Defiance".
Alex: Oh, that is so totally never going to happen.
Beth: We'll see.
Chris: And while you're adding Conflicts
left and right the corpse has to do all the
heavy lifting. Hod comes up to the
display case, reinforced steel and heavy
glass and all that. I'll Stake a point of
Debt on it. Using Superstrength he rips
it apart. I replace my spent Debt, and
roll a... four. Much nicer.
Superstrength
Reckless
Alex: Reacting with Liz's Reckless. I

roll.. a five, which I won't accept. She
leaps forward and plucks the sceptre off
its stand. "I bet you won't risk hurting
me when this might fall and shatter!"
And then....
Chris: Hod grabs her by the throat and hefts her into the air.
"It's well made," he says simply.
56
Example of Play
"Answer"
Inspiration
Alex: "If that were all there was to it," Liz

gasps, "You'd have taken this when you
killed Doctor Standish."
Using my
25
"Answer" Inspiration to raise my die in
"Get Sceptre" to a 3.
Beth: Tightens things up, doesn't it?
Alex:
"What's more, I've seen the
translation of Khuffi's curse! It falls on
anyone who would steal the Sceptre...
and right now that would include you!
Harrison owns it now! You need to bluff him into giving it to
you!" Rolling your four with Investigation. I get a two!
Beth: I've got first shot at our villainous reaction. "Standish
thought the same way," Black Scarab drawls, "and look where it
got him." He gestures, and clouds of insects rush to every door,
slamming them shut. "Sure you want to follow in his footsteps?"
I'm rolling with "Control Everything at once." I get a three, which
is enough to tie.
Alex: React with Determined. "I say
you're bluffing!" she replies. I roll... a
one.
Investigation
Control
Everything
at once
Determined
Hit 'em
with the
scenery
Chris: She is very good at what she

does, isn't she? I'm reacting with "Hit 'em
with the scenery." Hod throws her into
the wall. "Give Sceptre!" it snarls. I roll a
four. Nice try, no cigar. The Sceptre
pops free of her hands. Harrison scoops
it up and says "Please, just take it! Take
anything you want, just let me live!"
Alex: That IDIOT! Was he not listening?
Them getting Sceptre equals us being
dead! Stupid!
Chris: And on that high note the Page
ends.
57
Alex: Okay, fine. I clearly need a second

character to compete. I'll spend a Story
Token 22 and bring in Captain Liberty.
Chris: I knew you'd come around. Now
roll for your Overdrawn Drive 32 on him.
2
Alex
Chris
1
Beth
3
Alex: Rolling the three in "Get Sceptre". I

get a four. That would raise it, so I can't
accept. It stays a three. And I'm adding the free Exemplar
Event 76 between the two of them. It's "Liz is about to die". I
figure we can manage to fit that in somewhere.
Chris: I'll claim the black side of that.
Alex: Duh! I should have waited until my own turn to add that.
Then Chris couldn't have claimed. I'll claim the other side.
Beth: And I'll claim "Get Sceptre" for us.
Chris: First action. Hod picks up Liz once more. "Don't need
you now," it says, and flings her through the bay windows of the
high-rise, toward the fall outside.
Alex: "Not Yet..." 26 right? That would
be making her about to die, which can't
occur until the Event is Resolved.
Chris: That's true. How about she
catches the railing, and is dangling over
the street far below. All of that was rolling
"Hit 'em with scenery" again. More Debt
for me, and I get a five. Woohoo!
Hit 'em with

the scenery
Alex: Liz rolls up her side of "About to die" with "Judgmental".

"I'm not letting a pile of bones be the end of me," she snarls,
trying to climb in the window. I get a two. And then....
Chris: The mummy reaches down to grab her throat, pushing
her inexorably back away from her handhold.
Alex: Liberty reacts with "Liberty Shield", Debt in Love. Four.
Spang! The shield flies in and smacks Hod in the face. "Have
no fear!" he yells, "I will save you!" And then...
58
Example of Play
Judgmental
Liberty
Shield
Titanic
Punch
Trap
Opponent
Chris: Liberty flies in to try to capitalize

with a surprise attack, but the mummy is
ready, and punches him across the street.
Reacting with Titanic Punch, I get a five,
which I won't accept.
Beth: I'm on it. Reacting with Trap
Opponent. "What's this, a champion?"
Black Scarab says. He walks over to the
broken window. A cloud of insects flies out
and surrounds Captain Liberty. They drag
him away from the building. "I hope you'll
prove a worthy challenge!" I get a three.
Alex: Wow, lots of reaction on Liz. Now
Captain Liberty. Rolling up "About to Die"
with Super-Strength, Debt in Duty. And... I
get a two, which I won't accept. "So...
many... bugs! Can't... break... free!"
Beth: Scarab grabs the Sceptre from
Harrison. "Thank you," he says. Then a
swarm of bugs descends on the millionaire.
Creating "Goal: Kill Harrison". That would
be our second Gloat, so you can veto.
Alex: You fiend! No, I won't veto. Evil, though.

Beth: Unless you plan to take more actions, "Get Sceptre"
resolves, for a one Inspiration to me and a
Story Token to you.
Alex: That's fine. Story Tokens are what
you get when you don't get what you want.
Chris: Then "About to Die" would
Resolve, except that the Comics Code 113
forbids killing off Exemplars. So instead I
Gloat! 41 "Muahaha! You are powerless to
save her! Pitiful mortal!" I turn our five
down to a one, and I get a Story Token.
Reduced
by Gloat
59
Alex: Claiming "About to Die".

1
Beth: Claiming "Kill Harrison".

Chris: I'll take "About to Die" again. And
don't forget you're still Overdrawn. 32
Alex
Chris
Beth
Alex: Ah, man, I meant to Stake last turn.

2
3
Okay, rolling my
three, I get... a one!
Which makes it impossible for me to Stake
and Split 37 immediately. But that's later.
Right now I'm spending the Story Token
from losing the Sceptre to Claim 22 "Kill
Harrison." Liz will use Inspired to get the
Inspired idea of taking her Zippo lighter to
the nearby wrappings of the mummy's foot.
I roll... a two. Not much, but more than
your one. She almost loses her grip and is
dangling by one hand. But the fire catches
rapidly. Scarab sends some bugs over to
extinguish the mummy.
Reduced By
Overdrawn
Drive
Inspired
Beth: No reactions here. Keep going.

Split the Die
Tense
Super
Strength
Cold
Alex: Okay. Cap Stakes two Justice on

"Kill Harrison" and two Love on "About to
Die". Now I can Split 37 Liz's two into two
ones. On the Captain's action I roll one of
them with Tense. "Must break free while
he's distracted!
Won't get a second
chance!" I roll... a three. Reacting that
with Super-Strength, debt in Duty. A five!
He bursts from the bugs, to the rescue!
Chris:
Reacting with Cold.
Slightly
charred Hod steps out to heartlessly place
his bony foot on the hand Liz still has a grip
with, and grind. I roll... a four. And then....
Alex: Cap sends the rotting beast flying
with an old fashioned American upper-cut!
60
Example of Play
Beth: "None escape the curse!" Scarab

declares. Rolling up our side of "About to
Die" with "Blast of Bugs". Now Liz is
dangling by one bruised hand, over a
massive drop, surrounded by chewing
insects. Oh, and one of her high heeled
shoes falls off... down, down, down. I roll...
alright! A six!
Blast
of Bugs
Alex: Ah! Not good!

Chris: "Such power!" Hod marvels, looking at Captain Liberty
as it puts its jaw back in place. "Lord Khuffi will desire this one's
Ka! We must bring him to our Lord!" I'm creating "Goal:
Capture Captain Liberty".
Beth: Very cool!
Heroism
By the
Numbers
Alex: Spending my last Story Token for

another Action. 25 No more Gloating 41 for
you. I'm rolling up my other one with
"Heroism by the Numbers". "Maneuver 37alpha," he mutters. "Two foes, bystander,
falling victim. Go!" I roll... a six! Sweet!
Beth: So that resolves for you. Narrate!
Alex: First I spend my two Inspiration from

having been stung by Night Maiden against "Kill Harrison."
"He'll just have to save himself... I can't be everywhere!"
Beth: Big admission for Cap!
Alex: Liz loses her grip, falling with a scream out of the cloud of
bugs. "Eeeee!" Just as she is About To Die, he swoops in and
catches her, lifting her up and away to the applause of the
crowd. I'll match 30 the four with the six. Two point Inspiration
for Black Scarab, and a six pointer for Liberty. And each of you
get one of the Story Tokens 30 from that. Then I also Resolve
"Kill Harrison". While the villains are watching Liberty's heroics,
Harrison slips out the side door and runs for it. One point
Inspiration to me, two Story Tokens to you, Beth. End of Page.
61
Beth: And I get to Start again. Claiming

"Crush Liz's Defiance!"
Alex: I told you, it's not going to happen.

Chris: Whatever. I'm claiming "Capture
Liberty".
Alex
Beth
Chris
2
Alex: Claiming the failure of "Crush

Defiance" for Liz. Free narration time.
Liberty drops Liz off at a convenient balcony and says "You'll be
safe here!"
Chris: "No way! I can help you!"
Alex: Liberty cows her with a glance. "This is too serious for
your recklessness."
Chris: "Not Yet..."
the Conflict resolves.
26
Nobody can Crush her Defiance until
Alex: Oh... Right... so now I have characters on both sides of

the Conflict. Tricky. Okay.... But she can defy him from across
the street, because he's flying back to the fray!
Beth: And I'll start out our actions. Scarab
creates a convenient giant hammer of bugs,
and slams Liberty to the floor. I roll a four.
Alex: On Capture Liberty?
Beth: No, on Crush Defiance. "Dammit!"
Liz whispers sadly, "You need my help!"
Convenient
Bug Shapes
Alex: Ouch! No Reaction here.

Chris: Hod's rolling "Capture" with "Titanic
Punch". Just as Captain Liberty gets up off
the ground, the mummy slams him back
down again. I roll a five!
Alex: Double-ouch! No reaction. Liz rolls
her side of "Crush Defiance" with "Infectious
Energy". "We can do it together!" she calls.
I roll a three. And Then...
62
Infectious
Energy
Example of Play
Beth: Liberty is flung across the room by

a horde of bugs. "Give up, mortal pest!"
Scarab yells at her. "You're useless!"
Stake
Split a
New Side
Alex: Okay, Liberty is rolling Perfectionist

in support of the villains on "Crush
Defiance." A three, which I won't accept.
Now that he's Allied 26 he's Staking a
point of Justice on "Crush Defiance" and
Splitting 37 his own side off of Scarab's.
Beth: Why you sly dog!
Alex: Liberty smacks Scarab across the

room. "You don't get to talk to her like
that," he says simply. "I can do this," he
shouts to her, "If you will just stop distracting me!" And then...
uh, me playing Liz, I suppose. "Captain Liberty, you are the
most aggravating man I have ever met!"
Chris: Wow, you guys need counselling.
Spending a Story Token. Staking three in
Capture and Splitting 2/2/1. Roll the one
with Great Leverage from a Tiny Handhold.
The next time Liberty punches, Hod just
catches the fist and slams him against the
wall. Six! "You were a worthy opponent."
Three-way
Split
Alex: Triple ouch! I'm so done!

Beth: Crush Defiance Resolves for Liz.
Great Leverage
from a Tiny
Handhold
Alex: Yep! Cap gets back two Debt in

Love, as is only right and proper. Match
Liz's die against yours, and I get a one
point Inspiration for Liz, two point for Cap.
Chris: I get 1, 2 and 6 Inspirations off Capture and give Alex
three Story Tokens.
Beth: And that's the scene. I guess Liz, defiant to the end,
watches a limp Cap being carried away by a cloud of locusts.
Alex: Who knows what manner of fiendish torture awaits him?
63
Scenes 3+: Rescue

So what happens next? Liz has the motive to arrange a rescue
for Captain Liberty. Harrison owes them big, and probably has
much more information than he's spilled so far.
Zip and Night Maiden presumably get dragged in to grill the
sleazy millionaire, and then try to rescue the Captain from
Khuffi's secret pyramid.
And what does the Staff of Souls do? Why would Khuffi want
the Captain's "Ka"? Is that the same as his super-powers?
Mechanically, Captain Liberty is just rolling in Debt... enough so
that he's starting to be hampered about how many powers he
can safely use. What he really needs is some more Inspirations
to balance out his resources. He might well play Pharoah Khuffi
as an arch-villain, and arrange to have Khuffi steal Liberty's
powers with the Staff.
Then he could spend some scenes trying to get along in the
"real world" as just a normal joe. This would let him work off
some of his Debt in ways that people would enjoy watching.
Player interest joined to their desire for his Story Tokens would
probably mean he'd win most Conflicts without much opposition.
That would let him stockpile strong Inspirations. These scenes
would also give him a chance to address the issues raised in
the first scene.
Once he'd racked up enough Inspirations, there clearly needs to
be a climactic scene between Liberty and Khuffi, where the
Captain proves that the measure of a super-hero is not the
extent of his powers or training, but the strength of his heart.
64
Example of Play
Or, you know, something like that. At best this is a rough plan,
because along the way you'd have other things come up. Does
Khuffi object to Scarab's thoroughly modern sensibilities? Does
Hod feel honor-bound to treat the Captain with respect as a
formidable foe? Those are the considerations that emerge to
make a story come alive.
Or, to be more accurate, those are the considerations that the
players use to take control of the story. In the example so far,
Alex has done a spectacular job of keeping the spotlight trained
on his character. By taking a beating he has consistently given
himself the resources to push his own agenda.
But that time is pretty clearly reaching its end. Both Chris and
Beth have substantially more resources than Alex now. They
have more Story Tokens, more Inspirations and much better
managed Debt.
They may choose to go back to their spotlight characters, Night
Maiden and Zip. Or concentrate on the villains for a while. Or
something else entirely.
The tug-of-war between Captain Liberty and Liz Livingstone
would have been difficult to predict before it happened. In the
same way, unexpected things are likely to come of Beth and
Chris's new power over the story. The only thing that is
predictable is that they will have to emerge and evolve from
where the story is now, and what tensions the players have to
work with.
65
Chapter 3
Assembling
a Character
Characters, their abilities and their concerns, are the
fundamental building block of a Capes story. The game runs on
Conflict, and there is no Conflict that is not between two or more
characters. This chapter will give you an overview of what it
takes to create a character in Capes.
67
Introduction Abilities Drives Exemplars
Each character is described in up to three sections.

Any character that can be played must have Abilities. These
are the ways that they can try to change the world.
Super-powered characters can have Drives. These are the
ways that they try to prove themselves worthy of their power.
Super-powered characters with Drives that get a lot of attention
(particularly the protagonists of the main story) can also have
Exemplars for those Drives. These are other characters that
embody those moral issues in a concrete form in the character's
life.
When you create a character, you can choose how much of this
detail to create. A character without Drives or Exemplars is less
detailed, but no less able.
If you decide you'd like to elaborate on such a sketched-in
character at a later point in the game you should feel free. You
can add detail, clarify Drives, add Exemplars, and so on.
In fact, any time that you want to change any character between
sessions, you can do so, as long as you end up with a character
that still adheres to the character creation rules.
68
Assembling a Character
Abilities
Abilities are the things that the character can be or do that will
have an impact on Conflicts, 26 and by extension on the world.
They come in four flavors (though any particular character will
have only three of them): Powers, Skills, Styles and Attitudes.
Powers and Skills are things the character can do, like fly, or
shoot a gun, or integrate mathematical functions. A superpowered character will have only Powers, not Skills. A normal
character will have only Skills, not Powers.
Attitudes are ways the character feels, like happy, or sad, or
scornful. All character will have Attitudes.
Styles are the particular ways that a character often uses their
other Abilities. So they might have "Fly" as a Power, and "High
speed aerial maneuvers" as a Style. Or they might have
"Confident" as an Atttiude and "Screw the rules" as a Style. All
characters will have Styles.
Powers are super-powered. Skills and Attitudes are mundane.
Styles may be either, as the player chooses when they create
the character.
Super-powered Abilities have a different cost for using them
than mundane Abilities 38 . The Abilities should be labelled in a
way that will make clear to you which category they fall into. If
you are using the Click and Lock 80 method then all of the
Abilities in your Power-Set are powered, and all Abilities from a
Persona or Skill-Set are mundane.
69
What Abilities Aren't

Abilities do not represent objective limits on the power of the
character to address individual tasks. What the characters can
do is limited only by what their player chooses to narrate. And
the player's narration is limited only by the Conflict rules.
There is nothing in the game mechanics that says "Your
character can or cannot do this particular thing." Characters in
Capes can do anything their player wants. But that does not
imply that they can achieve anything the player wants.
So if your goal in making a character is that they be able to do
certain spectacular things... rest easy. They will be, no matter
what numbers you assign. If your goal is that they should have
a certain style, maybe even a lower-powered style than the
characters other players are making... rest easy. They'll be
equally effective, no matter how you describe their Abilities.
Dawn wants to create a hero,

Rocket-Girl, who flies as fast
as a speeding car. Flying is
central to this hero's
style. Dawn gives her Eddie wants to create a hero,
Flight at level 5.
Moonbeam, who flies around
the world in an instant. It's
not a big part of the
Felicia wants a hero, Galactic, hero's style. Eddie
who can fly between planets gives him Flight, Level 1.
faster than light. But it's
just a way to get around. She
does not give him a Flight
power at all.
70
What Abilities Are

Abilities and their values track how much impact a given Ability
has on the Story. This is less about the cause-and-effect
outcomes of using the ability than it is about judging how central
the Ability is to the concept of the character, and how reliably
they can get good results with it.
A numerically strong ability will let you influence the game by
winning Control in Conflicts. Since that gives you the right to
narrate, you'll always be able to find some way to make the hero
successful.
If you describe their powers as comparatively weak, and you
win a Conflict where (objectively) you should have lost, then you
get to narrate how their cleverness overcomes the power gap.
If you describe their powers as awesome in scope, and you lose
a Conflict where (objectively) you should have won, then the
other players will get to narrate how bad luck intervenes.
Rocket-Girl is chasing a
faster-than-light spaceship.
She wins the Conflict: when it
launches she manages
Moonbeam tries to catch a to "surf" its warp
getaway car. He loses the field, and keep pace.
Conflict. The car gets away,
because his speed is
so great that he Galactic chases a man on foot.
overshoots and loses He is about to lose the
Conflict. Felicia spends a
track of the villains.
Story Token for more actions
and wins, because she doesn't
want to invent an explanation.
71
Freeform Method
Because different Abilities at different levels can all represent
the same character, the system doesn't need complex rules to
govern what you can and cannot pick for Abilities. You pick
whatever you want. This is called the "Freeform" method of
character creation. It still has a few rules, but not many.
A character may have up to twelve abilities in
three categories: Attitudes, Styles and either
Powers (for super-beings) or Skills (for mundane
characters).
No category may have more than five or less
than three abilities.
Within each category, Abilities are numbered
sequentially starting from one. You may have
four abilities at levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. You may not
have four abilities at levels 2, 6, -4 and 37.
72
73
Drives
A super-powered character that is going to play an important
role as protagonist or antagonist should have detailed Drives.
To assign these you do the following:
Take five Heroic or Villainous Drives
Assign each a Strength between one and five.
These five numbers must total exactly nine.
For a character filling a bit-part ("super-powered lackey of the
arch-villain") it may not be worth filling out values for different
Drives. Such characters are called Undifferentiated. An
undifferentiated character keeps their Debt in a single stack.
They are overdrawn when they have more than five Tokens in
that stack. They may Stake as many as three tokens on any
one Conflict. Their personalities tend (in play) to be somewhat
one-dimensional.
Drives are not codes of conduct. Two characters with high
values in the same Drive are, in fact, more likely to argue about
it than to agree. Drives are parts of the moral universe that the
character thinks seriously about. They are questions, not
answers.
An anarchist, who has strong opinions about the role of law and
order in society, is just as much invested in the Justice Drive as
a by-the-book stickler for the rules. What the Drive means to a
character is something that players will have to invent and,
often, discover through play.
Drives should have a constant presence in the life of the
character. The best way to assure this is by assigning the Drive
an Exemplar. An Exemplar is another character whose
relationship with the first embodies their issues with the Drive.
74
Exemplars
Any character with Drives may choose or create one Exemplar
for free. For a second (or third, or so on) Exemplar, two players
must collaborate on Sharing the Exemplar (see page 77)
There must be a "root conflict" in the relationship between the
character and her Exemplar. This is some fundamental way in
which they are forever at odds. That, in turn, spawns many
trivial, solvable, conflicts. It is often easiest to invent the root
conflict by creating a sentence of the form "This good thing, but
that bad thing." For instance:
Justice: "I respect Lieutenant Gerard, but he thinks I'm a criminal
and wants to put me in prison."
Truth: "Aunt Sylvie is great, but she'd be scared silly if she knew I
risked my life as a super-hero."
Love: "I love Julie, but her family and mine are long-time rivals, and
would never accept our being together."
Hope: "I keep kids like Jimmy safe, but I can never really belong in
their carefree world."
Duty: "Black Snake is a great mentor, but I can never live up to his
expectations."
Obsession: "My research could give my daughter back her sight,
but she fears what my obsession might cost us both."
Pride: "I am superior to Morality Man in every way, but he refuses
to admit it!"
Power: "Doctor Kill is a great man, but he often punishes me
severely for no reason at all."
Despair: "Charles wants me to have hope for the future, but I
cannot forget the atrocities I have seen."
Fear: "My ex-partner Volcanus believes in me, but I don't believe in
myself."
Characters create minor conflicts whenever they can't address

the root conflict of their relationships. If Doctor Swift could
convince Lieutenant Gerard of his innocence then there would
be no need for all of the narrow escapes. If Johnny could reveal
his alter-ego to Aunt Sylvie then there would be no need for all
the deceptions. But they can't, and so the close calls and guilty
lies keep on coming.
75
Exemplar Conflicts
The idea that these same Conflicts keep arising in slightly
different forms isn't just subjective. It is written into the rules.
Each Exemplar has a permanent Free Conflict attached to their
relationship to the primary character. That Free Conflict can be
played once in any Scene where both characters appear. Either
the player of the character or the player of the Exemplar may
play the Free Conflict. It may be played many times, in many
Scenes, in the same story. Although it must remain the same
Conflict each time, it can be resolved in many different ways.
Sparky, young protege of hero

Firestorm, has Firestorm as his Duty
Exemplar.
Their associated Free
Conflict is "Event: Firestorm judges
Sparky's worth". Firestorm and Sparky
are both in a bank-robbery scene.
Sparky introduces the Event, Controls
and Resolves it. Under the direction of
Sparky's player, Firestorm praises
Sparky for his accomplishments. Their
relationship improves, and Sparky's
player has the Inspiration to prove it.
Later, Firestorm is
captured by villains
and Sparky goes to
the rescue.
Firestorm introduces the same free
Event, and this time the villain Controls
and Resolves it. At a crucial moment,
Firestorm intercedes, holding Sparky
back rather than let him take the risks
that go with being a grown hero, and the
villain escapes.
Distrust is sown
between hero and sidekick.
76
Sharing Exemplars
To have more than one Exemplar for their characters, players
need to agree on one they can share. This will require three
characters: Characters A and C related to Character B, and
Character B related to both of them. Character A should have
been made or played mostly by one player, and Character C by
another. Obviously, given the rules, it can be hard to say for
certain which character "belongs" to which player, but the
shared Exemplar relationship should be of interest to both
players.
To construct a shared Exemplar in a hurry, each player can
choose one click and lock module, then combine them. So if
Hero A needs a spunky Love Exemplar he might choose the
Crusader Persona. If Hero C needs a Hope Exemplar who can
stick up for the hero's maligned reputation he might choose the
Journalist Skill-set. Together they make a spunky Crusading
Journalist with connections to both heroes.
The shared Exemplar can represent the same Drive for both
sharing characters. For instance, if she is Love Exemplar for
both characters you have a classic love triangle. Or, the
Exemplar can represent different Drives for the two sharing
characters. For instance, Hero A can have younger sister B as
his Duty Exemplar (since only he can make sure she has a
happy and productive life), while Hero C can have hot young girl
B as his Love Exemplar.
However the relationships pan out, the sharing of an Exemplar
creates a de facto relationship between the sharing characters.
They are vying with each other for influence over and attention
from the Exemplar.
77
Chapter 4
Click and
Lock
So you need Abilities for a character, and you need them in a
hurry. It would take too much time to think over every possibility,
and make up the perfect description for each Ability.
This chapter is made up of lists of partial sets of Abilities. They
can be recombined, and modified to quickly make a variety of
characters off the cuff for immediate inclusion in a scene.
79
Click and Lock Powers Persona Skills
Click and Lock Method

Character fragments are presented as Power (or Skill) Sets and
Personae. Power Sets include a list of Powers and some
Styles. Personae include a list of Attitudes, and some more
Styles. To make a character with these, you do the following:
Choose a Power (or Skill) Set.
Choose a Persona.
Combine the Styles of the two parts into a single
list.
The character now has five Powers, five
Attitudes and five Styles. Cross out the three
you like least (but not all from one column).
Number each category from one up, depending
on how you value the abilities. Note that lowlevel abilities will be used most often for raising
your own dice in the early stages of a Conflict.
High-level abilities will often be used later, or
defensively, reacting to a good roll of your
opponent.
Building a character in this way is called the Click and Lock
method. Once you have that base character you are (as
always) free to change any of the Abilities as much as you want.
The Click and Lock method is not a rule, as such. It is a mental
tool to help players get past the writer's block associated with
the Freeform method. So remember that the Power Sets and
Personae are just starting points, meant to inspire your
creativity.
80
Click and Lock
Choose Powers
Godling
Casually overpower
mortals
Super-strength
Super-speed
Inspire Awe
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Divert large flying

objects
Flight
Choose Persona
Seducer
Pout
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
"You know you want to"
Sly
Greedy
Combine
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
Cross out three

Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
Number
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Pout
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Inspire Awe
Divert large flying
objects
Seducer
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Sly
Greedy
81
Power Sets
Making a quick super-hero or -villain starts with picking out a
Power Set. Once you've chosen one of these, you'll know what
your character can do and how his super-powers can change
the world.
Power Sets consist of a full assortment of Powers, and half a
set of Styles. All of these (both the Powers and the Styles) are
super-powered, and cost Debt to use.
Any Power Set will benefit from being customized. Looking at
the Gadgeteer, for instance, it's clear what purpose her
Repulsor Beams serve... ranged attack. Replacing those with
Magentic Bolo Launchers serves exactly the same purpose and
lets you put your own distinctive stamp on the character.
82
Click and Lock
"Normal" Supers
Some super-beings don't have explicitly 'super-human'
powers at all. They rely on human abilities, honed and
perfected to an inhuman extent.
Gadgeteer
Co-opt enemy systems
Technical Genius
Techno-armor
Repulsor beams
Improvise a gadget
Sensor systems
Flight-pack
Know weak points of

any system
Martial Artist
Named techniques
Acrobatics
Combat intuition
Precision strikes
Improvised weaponry
Focussed battle aura

Ninja stealth
Brains over brawn
Hunter
Perch in a high place
Tireless stamina
Ensnare
Wrestle
Predict prey's next

move
Razor-keen senses
Find weaknesses
Exhaust your prey
83
Internal Powers
Some super-beings have spectacular abilities in terms of
their own body, but have to apply those abilities in the old
fashioned, hands-on way.
Speedster
Super-speed
Move someone out of

the way
Accelerated Reflexes
Rapid recovery
Trail of Disruptions
Do many things at once

Faster than the laws of physics
Brick
Super-leap
Fast enough to try

another plan
Massive property
damage
Titanic Punch
Invulnerability
Hit 'em with the scenery
Super-strength
Great leverage from tiny handhold
If it doesn't fit, force it
Animal Avatar
Surprise Attack
Shark Telepathy
Frenzy
The example is written
up with a shark's teeth
and swimming, but is
easily changed to a
wolverines claws and
tenacity, a hawk's
talons and flight or a
spiders webs and
wallcrawling.
84
Big shark teeth
Tooth-shaped gouges
Swimming
Shark sense of smell
Ominous Circling
Click and Lock
External Powers
Some super-beings have abilities that manifest entirely
outside of themselves, often with no visible connection.
Master of
Natural Force
Trap opponent
Magnetic blast
Move metal
Become magnetism
The example is written for
a master of magnetism.
With slight modification it
fits those who control Fire,
Ice, Weather, Technology,
Air, Electricity, and so on.
Control everything
at once
Force Field
Metal shapes
Mind Reader
Read minds
Indirect action
Know what they're

planning
Project sensations
Ascend to mental plane
Subtle influence
Manipulate memories
Mind control
Magician
Mass crowd influence
Dramatic incantation
Bind forces/things
Wards and shields
Summon forces/things
Mythic resonance
Unleash Artifacts of Power

Know hidden nature of the world
Runes and Sigils
85
Generalists
Some super-beings have a huge array of abilities,
seemingly a new power for any new situation.
Godling
Super-strength
Casually overpower
mortals
Super-speed
Invulnerability
Inspire Awe
Laser Eye-beams
Flight
Shapeshifter
Change Shape
Divert large flying

objects
Reach inaccessible
places
Change Size
Change physical state
Shift out of danger
Strengths of current form

Resilient body
Robot
Gigantic Size
Surround an area
Devices pop out from

under skin
Armor
Rocket Feet
Computer Brain
Tranform into Machine

Missile Swarm
86
Massive Property
Damage
Click and Lock
Specialists
By contrast, some super-beings have a single ability that
they use in creative ways to address different challenges.
Teleporter
Appear
Appear behind
someone
Disappear
Teleport someone else
Impossible to target
Appear, act, disappear

Teleport a piece of something
Look at situation from

many angles
Mimic
Mix and match forms
Imitate Something
Mindset of form
Strengths of form
Camouflage
Weaken what you imitate

Absorb attacks
Shootist
Adapt to changes
Chain reaction
Shoot
Rapid fire
Ricochet Shot
Shoot equipment
Pinpoint accuracy
Extreme range shot
Do other things while

shooting
87
Personae
A Persona gives you a set of Attitudes, and the other Styles
needed to fill in the gaps in either a Power-set or Skill-set.
There is a surprising amount of flexibility in what you eliminate
and what order you put Abilities. An Angsty Nice Guy with a
high "Shy" score is a whole different creature (often) from one
with no "Shy", but a high "Wry Humor".
Innocents
These characters are defined by their sincere, open, way of
dealing with the world. They are natural magnets for
heartache and misery.
Ingenue
Miss the subtext
Shocked
Kind
Trusting
Smile lights up
the room
Curious
Confused
Angsty Nice Guy

Trustworthy
Shy
Selfless
Sincere
Desperate Effort
Wry humor
Secretly hurting
88
Click and Lock
Walking Wounded
These characters have more defense mechanisms than any
ten normal people. Memory and fear haunt them, and make
it difficult to open up and share themselves with others.
Guilt-Ridden
Brood
Doubtful
Remorseful
Kind
Doubt yourself
Impatient
Distant
Neurotic
Plan ahead
Worst Case
Scenario
Nervous
Apologetic
Desperate
Understanding
Witty
Ex-Victim
Reminders of
the past
Grim
Quiet
Melancholy
Snap without
warning
Untrusting
Angry
89
Idealists
These characters are strong at presenting and defending a
case on principled grounds. They are more comfortable and
effective debating abstracts than expressing their emotions.
Older but Wiser
Understand your
limitations
Insightful
Preachy
Judgmental
Dire Prediction
Ironic
Disappointed
Crusader
Face down
hypocrites
Inspired
Determined
Judgmental
Infectious energy
Frustrated
Reckless
Curmudgeon
Scoff
Honest
Aggressive
Put upon
Brutal realism
Demanding
Sarcastic
90
Click and Lock
Action Oriented
These characters prefer deeds to words. They are more
comfortable doing things than discussing them. Indeed,
they can be outright anti-social, with the proper treatment.
Psychotic Loner
Intimidate
Furious
Denial
Abrasive
Screw the rules
Uncomfortable
Confident
Hotshot
Thrill Junky
Escape without a
scratch
Joyful
Unflappable
Bored
Rebellious
Talkative
Spunky Kid
Exceed
Expectations
Optimistic
Embarrassed
Childish
Point out the

obvious
Reckless
Decisive
91
Incomplete
These characters have some inner lack that they try to
compensate for in their interaction with others. Frequently
such characters will attach to those who have what they lack.
Sycophant
Toady
Spiteful
Remorseful
Sly
Apologize
Enthused
Nervous
Simple Soul
Simple Solutions
Happy
Sad
Angry
Cut to the chase
Loving
Slow
Inhuman
Misunderstand
humanity
Curious
Confused
Logical
See the big picture
Cold
Superior
92
Click and Lock
Manipulators
These characters have honed their ability to influence other
people. They are comfortable when they are in charge of a
situation, less so when they have to respond to others.
Charmer
Fast-talk
Upset people's
plans
Selfish
Flexible
Reluctant
Confident
Friendly
Puppet Master
Trust your lackeys
Don't trust
your lackeys
Demanding
Forgiving
Stern
Upset
Proud
Seducer
"You know you
want to"
Sensual
Understanding
Vindictive
Pout
Sly
Greedy
93
Skill-Sets
Skill sets represent the mundane skills that non-super
characters use to get through their daily routine.
Because people with common skills often work in groups, a
single "character" (according to the rules) can represent more
than one person in the story. For instance, a gang of thugs
could be run as a single Mook character, or a pack of
papparazzi could be a single Journalist.
On the Streets
These characters are adapted to a mean and often desperate
life on the streets. They can be ideal sources of information for
superheroes in a gritty story.
Homeless
Social invisibility
Scrounge
Accost
Rant
Know hidden face of

city
Obsess
Lament
Intuition for survival
Petty Crook
Deceive
Connections
Information
Run
Wheedle
Hide
Streetwise
94
Try for the Big Score
Click and Lock
Positions of Power
These characters are well equipped for influence in the
mundane world. They are accustomed to deference, and
may either help or hinder heroes who need their aid.
C.E.O.
Thrive on stress
Delegate
Glare
Multi-task
The buck stops here
Negotiate
Command
Authority
Politician
Pass the buck
Lead
Anticipate
Simplify
Inspire Action
Organize
Weasel
General
Connections
Chain of Command
Command
Strategize
Attack
Call in a favor
Delay
Decide
Diagrams on maps
95
Law and Order

Depending on your game, the police may be either
constant allies or frequent opposition. Whatever their role,
so long as there are characters who need to spend Justice
Debt, there will be a place for the police in your game.
Police
Repeat yourself
Communicate
Cuffs
Shoot
"Freeze!"
Crowd control
Fist-fight
DetectivE
Follow
Cordon off area
Put two and two

together
Notice
Tactics
Regulations
Shoot
Investigate
Dogged persistence
Spook
Resources
Authority
Secrecy
Shoot
Contacts
Intimidate
Deceive
96
Surveillance
Click and Lock
Crime and Violence

Low-level criminals are like popcorn for super-heroes.
They can't stop munching them. One such character can
often represent (in the rules) a gang of similar goons.
Mook
Shoot
Improvised
Weapons
Rough-house
Boast
Obedience
Steal
Outnumber
High-Tech Mook
Armor
Alpha Male
Endanger
innocents
Blast-gun
Jet-pack
Team tactics
Boast
Preparation
Kung Fu Fighter
Cut your losses
Rain of Blows
Punch
Kick
Philosophy
Shrug it off
Wire-Fu
Reflexes
Named Styles
97
White Collar
These characters keep the information age running. Apart
from their value to heroes who need information, these
types of skills work wonderfully for Exemplars.
jOURNALIST
Fast-talk
Photograph
Write
Investigate
Pointed question
Interview
Notice
Lawyer
Argue
Press Pass
Books full of
precedent
Advise
Recite
Loopholes
Bargain
Interrogate
Paperwork
Scientist
Propose Theory
Invent
Research
Science
"That can't be right"
Analyze
Experiment
98
Examine sample
Click and Lock
Blue Collar
These characters keep tabs on the regular world of people
and machines. With a solid, simple feel these characters
provide perfect Exemplars, particularly for Hope.
Bartender
Another customer
Insight
Be silent
Serve Alcohol
Clean Glasses
Folk Wisdom
Ask
Grease Monkey
Fix-It
Invent
Improvise
Non-verbal cues
Unnecessary
improvements
Bang it with a
wrench
Analyze
Reverse Engineer
Dock Hand
Have tools handy
Camaraderie
Lift
Throw
Seamanship
Rumors
Carouse
Stamina
Machismo
99
Chapter 5
Extended
Rules
Capes is played through the use of characters. Characters can
be compelling, and win the affection of the players. But from the
perspective of the rules system, a non-powered character is no
more than a bundle of Abilities to be tapped. It doesn't matter
whether they're old or young, male or female, human or alien.
In fact, the rules don't require that a character be a person. This
chapter will outline a few of the most common ways that you
can use non-person characters in your stories.
101
Non-Persons Things Phenom. Situations
Abilities
To play a non-person character, a player has to get away from
thinking that the actions of the character come from their inner
motives. A bomb doesn't have inner motives. It has a place in
the Scene, and things that it does to further the goals of the
player who put it there.
Non-person characters can, however, have Attitudes. As human
beings, we attribute human emotion to many inhuman
processes. A Deathtrap can be eccentric. A computer virus can
be relentless. Luck can be perverse or generous by turns.
Non-person characters have the same type of abilities as a nonpowered human character: Skills, Styles and Attitudes. As
always, the needs and desires of the player are the key to using
those effectively.
As with Click and Lock Modules, part of creating a non-person
character is eliminating the Abilities you like least. If the
character has three columns of Abilities, remove three (not all
from the same column). If it has only two columns, remove two
Abilities. Then number the Abilities in each column according to
how you want to prioritize them.
102
Extended Rules
Character Conflicts
Some non-person characters are tightly bound to a particular
Event or Goal. For instance a Chase has to involve people in
flight and pursuit. In most action genres, the penultimate
moment is when the two participants are neck and neck. So
resolving a "Neck and Neck" Event is the natural story outcome
of introducing a Chase.
When constructing a non-person character, you may choose to
equip it with a Character Conflict, in exchange for removing one
type of Ability, and the four Abilities of that type. A character so
modified will have only two columns of Abilities, and those will
either be distributed four and four, or five and three.
The player may introduce their character's Character Conflict
any time Free Conflicts can normally be introduced. However,
when that Conflict is Resolved, the character is removed from
the scene. The object or situation that it represents in the story
may continue, but it exerts no direct pressure on the dice.
103
Things
Objects are the easiest of the non-person characters. They're
right there, with physical existence (at least in the imaginary
game-world) and behaviors. Some are even self-directed.
There are so many kinds of possible objects that this book
cannot do more than offer a few evocative examples.
Designing and playing characters, even inanimate characters,
is part of the fun of the game.
Space Battleship
Shoot
Massive
Certain
Orbit
Only one
weakness
Grim
Loom
Overkill
Smug
Fighters
Extreme range
Ominous
Shields
Sizzling energy
Violent
Super-Computer
104
Analyze
Patterns
Logical
Search
Rigid
program
Literal
Calculate
Models
Smart
Simulate
Ask for
clarification
Stupid
Plan
Databases
Coy
Extended Rules
Doomsday Device Free Event: "00:00:01"

Booby traps
Relentless
Hard casing
Ominous
Elaborate wiring
Mocking
Requires great finesse
Stubborn
Energy surge
Unpredictable
Deathtrap
Free Event: Trap is Sprung
Needles Elaboration
Clever
Contingency Plans
Spiteful
Peculiar Style
Eccentric
Chain of Events
Teasing
"Tick, Tock"
Arrogant
Cursed Object Free Goal: Claim another victim

Bad Luck
Capricious
Good Luck
Driven
Distort Perceptions
Spiteful
Entice
Domineering
Bad Dreams
Selfish
105
Locations
Locations are nearly the same as objects, but they are more
likely to have a social context that pulls people into fitting roles.
Because of this, the Attitudes and Styles of a Location are often
expressed through the actions of characters in that location,
rather than through the location itself.
The location can be thought of as adding a new set of Abilities
to the characters there. You can say "Let's split up!" anywhere,
but it has special, genre-specific meaning, in an abandoned
amusement park.
Abandoned Amusement Park

Conceal
"Let's Split up!"
Spooked
Confuse
"Just the wind"
Relaxed
Surprise
Mirrors
Amused
Lull
Rides
Lost
Disorient
Rickety
Lonely
Church
106
Awe
Doves
Reverent
Shame
Crucifix
Determined
Inspire
Pews
Desperate
Soothe
Candles
Calm
Comfort
Rafters
Afraid
Extended Rules
Ancient Temple
Free Event: Treasure is in hand
Skulls
Afraid
Chasm
Fascinated
Dead Languages
Greedy
Hordes of deadly critters
Cocky
Roots and Vines
Cautious
Volcano
Free Event: Someone falls toward lava

Burn
Noxious Fumes
Smoke
Hot to the touch
Crumble
Shifting shadows
Shake
Honey-combed with
tunnels
Stifle
Bursts of lava
Court Room
Free Event: Shocking new evidence!
Gavel
Outraged
"Order! Order!"
Surprised
Bailiff
Confident
Court Recorder
Crying
Jury
Furious
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Phenomena
Phenomena are overarching issues that, by player agreement,
are beyond the scope of what the characters are dealing with
right now.
If you want to play a scene where you sneak around in an
oppressed society then you want a phenomenon (Martial Law,
for instance) to represent the troubles of that. If, for a later
scene, you want to lead a rebellion and free the people then you
are dealing with a different question. Then the phenomenon
ceases to be an established feature, and becomes a set of
Conflicts that you can try to change through your actions.
Martial Law
Oppress
Authority
Paranoid
Shoot
Surveillance
Afraid
Betray
Police Presence
Arrogant
Arrest
Silence
Loyal
Threaten
Sirens
Resigned
Orate
Catchphrase
Enthused
Speculate
Snap
Judgment
Worried
Cheer
Headline
Proud
Watch
Arguments
Loyal
Judge
One-sided
Fickle
Public Opinion
108
Extended Rules
Virus Free Goal: Contain the infection

Contaminate
Panicked
Transform
Confused
Lie Dormant
Confident
Weaken victim
Distressed
Consume
Frustrated
Murphy's Law Free Goal: Keep your spirits up

Add Insult to Injury
Unsympathetic
Worst Possible Time
Angry
Opportunity
Resigned
"Of course"
Bitter
Irony
Impatient
Disaster Free Goal: Save lives

Chain Reaction
Desperate
More problems than

people to solve them
Panicked
Massive Scale
Fascinated
Moment of Truth
Selfish
Ominous Cracking
Grateful
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Situations
Situations differ from phenomena in that they are almost entirely
structural. There is no physical reality in the game-world to the
situation. It is a pattern of possibilities and likelihoods that
condition what people can and will do.
The trickiest of the non-person character types, Situations can
help to give form and structure to a story. They can also
confuse the dickens out of people trying to use them. Handle
with care.
Social Function
Mingle
Alcohol
Antsy
Dance
Speeches
Happy
Eat
Three's a crowd
Loud
Talk
A little drunk
Annoying
Posute
The kitchen
Shy
Sneak
Alcove
Tense
Hide
Inching
Closer
Patient
Search
"Shhhh!"
Curious
Notice
Something
makes noise
Rushed
Overhear
Distraction
Relieved
Sneaking
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Extended Rules
Chase Free Event: Neck and Neck

Accelerate
Obstacle
Swerve
Technical Difficulties
Improvise
Straightaway
Skid
Narrow Confines
Lose Control
New terrain
Misplaced in Time Free Goal: Blend in

Culture Shock
Nostalgic
Anachronism
Frustrated
Foreknowledge
Confused
Ignore taboos
Amused
Incredulous
Mystery
Free Event: Answers are Revealed
Obvious Untruth
Talkative
Apparent Lead
Desperate
Two facts are connected
Reluctant
Contradiction
Wary
Theory proven wrong
Evasive
111
Chapter 6
Personalizing
the Game
There are things players agree to simply by agreeing to play
Capes. They agree to the rules, and to some extent they agree
to deal with the Premise.
But there are sections of the superhero genre that vary from
book to book. The Capes rules strongly encourage players to
communicate exactly what type of game they will be playing
together. Doing so makes the game unique to that group.
113
Comics Code House Rules Props
Comics Code
In some comic books it would be inconceivable for a hero to kill
a villain. In some comic books it is standard operating
procedure. There's nothing artistically better or worse about
either choice. But they do lead to different stories.
Once upon a time, comics were governed by a Comics Code
that said what they could and could not do. The code was
external, enforced by various authorities. Writers couldn't
violate it, even if they wanted to. That restriction, as restrictions
often do, prompted a lot of very interesting creativity. Enough so
that the genre conventions fostered by the code have survived
the original code by quite a stretch of time.
The Capes rules are built to accommodate an absolute Comics
Code written by the players. This provides two types of comfort
zone for the players. First, and most obvious, it allows players
to declare the type of stories they want no part of, and be sure
those stories will not appear. It is totally legitimate for a player
to declare "I don't want my hero to have the deaths of innocents
on his conscience", and add a line to the Comics Code that
declares "Innocents cannot die due to any failure or choice of
the heroes." Similarly, a player may feel freer to risk life and
limb in a game which states explicitly in its Comics Code "superheroes will not die."
Once again, just to be clear: The things that are forbidden by
the Comics Code can never, ever, happen. Any time that
Resolving a Conflict would make them happen, the Resolving
Player must Gloat 41 instead.
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Personalizing the Game
The second comfort zone that the Comics Code provides is the
comfort to be a really villainous villain. This is a far more subtle
effect, and a more powerful one. It is easier to explain by
comparison with a game that has no Comics Code.
When a player takes on the role of a villain, their goal as a
player is still to have a good time. Most people won't have a
good time by getting the other players furious at them. If they
really do their best to be terrible and villainous, there is a real
possibility that they will succeed. If they set out to kill a hero (as
villains should) and by some fluke of the dice they actually do it,
where does that leave them? The players who valued that hero
are angry to be robbed of her presence in the game. And they
will rightly blame the player whose actions caused the situation.
Rather than risk that, players in the role of villains will aim for
less frightening goals, which in turn robs everybody of really
intense conflicts.
In a game with a Comics Code that includes "super-heroes will
not die" the player can feel free to create a "Goal: Kill CometGirl," and to work hard to Control it. They cannot, by doing so,
take the game to a place where Comet-Girl is dead. The
Comics Code has rigid borders that cannot be crossed. It
protects players from the possibility of accidental success.
Indeed, the rule system strongly rewards players who run their
villains smack dab into the restrictions of the Code. Villains
should be threatening to do things that nobody wants to see
happen. That's why they're villains. So every time they get to
the verge of something horrific, the Gloating mechanic gently
pulls them back and rewards them for doing their best on the
side of evil. Smart players will use every opportunity to take
advantage of the Gloating rules, for precisely that reason.
115
The Comics Code encourages players to consistently attempt

what it forbids. This makes it a level more complicated than a
simple list of "Thou Shalt Not" commandments.
By banning, for instance, killing Janey Jones, love interest, the
players don't say that Janey will never be put in danger. On the
contrary, they assure that Janey will constantly be in danger!
Any player in need of Story Tokens can earn them by Gloating
on a Conflict that could end in Janey's death.
Negotiating the Code
All the players in the game should get together and reach a
consensus on what they want to have in their Comics Code.
Sometimes it is easier to do this after playing a few sessions
without a Code and without Gloating. By then the players have
a good sense of what they are actually looking for, and how to
get it through the mechanics of the rules.
As with everything in the game, the Comics Code can be
changed as the needs of the players change. But a large part of
the Code's power is that it is absolute. Under no circumstances
should the Code ever be altered during a session of play. The
confusing and dynamic feeling around a table during play is the
polar opposite of the careful consideration that players should
bring to anything as major as a change to the Comics Code.
If a situation comes up that prompts the players to think that the
Code needs to be changed right now, they should play it
through as best they can, then talk about changing the Code
between sessions. Nothing that happens in the story can be so
absolute that it can't be corrected next session. The comic book
genre is flexible. If (for instance) the heroes are all killed off,
and then have to be brought back next session, they will join the
ranks of many, many teams of superheroes who have gone
through exactly the same thing.
116
Example Code, modeled roughly on a 1950s sensibility:

Super-heroes never die
Exemplars never die
Super-villains never die
Good people are never responsible for anyone's
death, even by omission
The Root Conflict between characters and their
Exemplars will not be resolved
Corollary: The Secret Identity of the hero will
not be exposed
Corollary: Unspoken love cannot be either
revealed or abandoned
The course of history will not diverge from real-world
history
Corollary: Superheroes can solve big fictional
problems (like alien invasion) but not big
real problems (like starvation in Africa).
117
House Rules
The Capes rules are a tool. Every group is going to use that
tool differently. As part of developing their own style, the group
will create a set of social rules for what players are expected to
do. When these social rules are unspoken it runs the risk of
confusion and aggravation. For instance, the hosting player
could get angrier and angrier, week after week, that nobody
pitches in money to pay for snacks. But if he's never asked
anyone for money (because, after all, the rule is unspoken) then
how are they supposed to know what is expected of them? Life
gets so much simpler if, some time in the first few sessions,
someone says "Hey, how are we covering the cost of snacks?"
In just the same way, the Capes system gives people a degree
of power that they may not be comfortable sharing with every
player around the table. To ease their worries, players create
social rules about how that power can be applied.
Disagreements about those rules usually center around the two
big sticking points of roleplaying: Story and Characters.
Capes gives any player the right to prepare Story-Threads (see
chapter 8) and to introduce them into the game. Some groups
will embrace that power, discarding the idea that anyone should
be assigned to make the A-Plot, much less the various B-Plots
that orbit around it. Some groups will want to rotate the
responsibility of creating the A-Plot, so that only one player each
week has to put in a large amount of preparation effort. Some
groups will want to assign that responsibility to one player
(almost always the one who organized the game) forever.
Any of those are legitimate, so long as they are clearly
communicated. A game group where four players think that the
fifth is making the story, but the fifth thinks that they're all taking
it in turns is going to be a game group with a lot of confusion
and few solid stories.
118
Spotlight Characters
The question of characters is even more contentious.
Roleplaying gives players the chance to identify with a character
in a way that few other media do. Players speak, in apparent
seriousness, about becoming their character during the game.
In deference to those feelings, many groups permit or require
each player to create one or more characters that are theirs and
theirs alone. Throughout this text these are referred to as
Spotlight Characters. The game mechanics treat them no
differently than any other character, but the social rules give
them an exalted place.
Many groups rule that no player may play the Spotlight
Character of another, or forcibly narrate events in their past. In
some groups, even the Exemplars of the Spotlight Characters
are off-limits, available only to the players who created them.
As with the question of story preparation, there are no right or
wrong answers to the question of what rights players have to
monopolize characters. What is vital is that everyone is in
agreement on those rights, so that they know what they can do
and what they cannot.
119
Props
Finally, though, there is something that you can do to
personalize the game that is fun, easy and rarely causes
confusion. You can figure out how, precisely, you're going to
make the rules clear to everyone around the table.
Different groups will show thing different ways. Index cards and
dice, or their equivalent, for Conflicts are pretty much a given,
but beyond that you can do a lot of wild things.
Players who want more convenience for minimal effort can go
online (http://www.museoffire.com/Games/) and print out the
letter-sized versions of the Click and Lock pages, then cut them
into their individual modules. That removes the hassle of
copying information from the rulebook onto a sheet of paper.
Then it's a breeze to create new characters and a tactile
experience as well, as you riffle through the Powers and
Personae looking for the ones you want.
With a bit more effort players can go to a board-game store and
pick up some spare colored pawns. Then players can Claim
Conflicts just by placing their color on the appropriate side of the
index card. This speeds the start of the Page and, again,
makes for a very tactile approach to the rules. A larger pawn (or
a crown, or a gavel, or any prop that works for you) can be
passed around to show who is the current Starter.
And for any player who wants to go absolutely nuts on making
the game a little quicker, I have just one word: "Lamination."
Laminate the Click and Locks, the character sheets, even the
Index cards. China pencils do a grand job of making temporary
marks on laminated paper. It's easy to keep track of which
Attitudes and Styles you've blocked then with a wipe of a
tissue you clear the slate for the next scene.
120
Narrative Style
Another thing your group can usefully discuss is what style they
want to take toward the narration rules. Specifically, what
should players be encouraged to narrate when they are on the
losing side of a Conflict.
If you agree that the player should narrate their own loss then
the use of the And Then 26 rule will be a minor factor. Players
will provide their own trouble, and their own constraints. Such a
game will usually be marked by a feeling of slow struggles for
domination, punctuated by sudden reversals.
If you agree that the player should narrate what they'd like to
see happen, even if it means temporarily gaining the upper
hand in the story then the And Then rule will be getting a
constant workout. Such a game will produce stories with
unending back and forth conflicts, with each side gaining and
losing apparent superiority many times in the course of events.
On the opposite side, the group can discuss how much a player
can narrate when they are winning. Particularly, how does a
player control the actions and effectiveness of losing characters
played by another player.
Some groups will have the winning player narrate for all the
characters, whether he's playing them or not. Some groups will
allow the controlling player to tell other players generally what to
narrate, then let them decide the details of how to describe it in
their characters own style.
121
Chapter 7
Strategy
and Tactics
Capes is made up of simple rules that interact in sophisticated
ways. First-time players, particularly, can be overwhelmed.
They need a good grasp of the Tactics of combining simple rules
properly to achieve a short-term goal, and the Strategy of which
short-term goals to pursue in a long-term agenda. The longer it
takes them to feel comfortable, the longer it will be before they
are fully enjoying and contributing to the game. This chapter
aims to shorten that learning time as much as possible.
123
Tactics System Resources Strategy
Tactics
There are many possible tactics that can work brilliantly in very
specific situations. Fortunately, only a few are both effective
and reliable on a routine basis. The trick to mastering them is
to realize that having your character win a Conflict is only one of
several equally valid short-term goals.
The flow of in-game resources is the most important factor in
the Capes mechanics. You gain Inspirations by winning
Conflicts.
You gain Story Tokens by losing Conflicts.
Sometimes you will want Inspirations more than Story Tokens,
and set out to have your character win. Sometimes you will
want Story Tokens more than you want Inspirations, and set out
to have your character lose. Letting another character defeat
yours in the story is the opposite of being defeated in the game.
You are gaming the system to get the resources you need.
Some of these tactics will help you to win Conflicts. Some will
help you to lose them. All will help you to control the resources
coming to you.
Instant-Split
Split/Inspire/Roll
Trinity
Risk level: Medium

Move: Before the first roll on
your side of a Conflict (i.e. when
the die is still one) spend a
level-2 Inspiration to raise the
die to a two, Stake two Debt and
Split into two ones. Now roll
one of the ones, just as you
would have before the InstantSplit. This is a great way to use
team-work on a Conflict, if you
can count on your team-mates
Risk level: Medium

Move: You need a Conflict
where you have a die greater
than one, but not much greater.
Stake two Debt. Split the die.
Use an Inspiration to raise one
of the resulting dice. Roll the
other die. If the die you start
with is too high, or your
Inspiration too low, this may end
up being a net loss after other
players React.
124
Strategy and Tactics
Breeding Debt
Breeding
Inspirations
Risk level: Very low

Move: Stake Debt on a Conflict
that you know you are about to
lose. It costs you no moves
(you roll on a different Conflict)
and will return twice the Debt as
soon as the Conflict resolves. If
you split your die you may also
get a small Inspiration out of it.
Risk level: Medium

Move: Introduce and Claim a
Conflict nobody else needs.
Instant-Split for Control. If you
Resolve the Conflict that Page
then you should end with as
many Inspirations as you spent
Debt, most fairly small, but one
possibly quite respectable.
Spiteful Schism
Massive Schism
Risk level: High

Move: Stake a point of Debt on
the side you want to see lose,
roll on their side (to become an
Ally 26 ) then Schism off your
own side from their highest die
to reduce its value. The risk is
that you roll so high that even
splitting leaves them in Control.
Risk level: High

Move: In a Conflict Claimed by
an ally, manufacture an excuse
to debate exactly how you are
going to win. Stake two Debt.
Split the highest die three ways
and take the best two for your
own side. Complete the Trinity
maneuver (page left) to gain
control. Resolve it yourself next
Page.
Multi-Gloat,
Amateur
Multi-Gloat, Pro
Risk level: Low

Move: Requires an opportunity
to Gloat. Before the Page ends
(and you Gloat) spend a Story
Token for another turn. Stake
Debt and split your winning die
into dice, no more than one of
them reading "1". A three or
four may be split twice, a five or
six three times. Roll the lowest
die. Instead of turning down
one die you now turn down as
many as you Staked Debt.
Returns double Debt, eventually.
Risk level: Very High

Move: Execute the Multi-Gloat,
Amateur (left). Next Page, claim
the same Conflict. Use small
Inspirations on every die on the
Gloat. Your total must be at
least seven. Other players are
now faced with either Staking to
beat your Gloat (and give you
those Staked Tokens as Story
Tokens) or letting you Gloat
again and winning the Conflict
next Page when the dice are
turned back to ones.
125
Declaring Conflicts
The most confusing thing for most new players of Capes is the
ability to declare Conflicts. They think of declaring Conflicts only
as a way to influence the story. That ignores a powerful tactical
tool. Conflicts are the battlegrounds upon which the game is
played. There are several ways to choose them to your own
advantage.
Preventative
Goals
Distraction
Conflicts
In the absence of a Conflict,

anyone can narrate achieving
anything. Suppose a villain is
losing a battle. They can just
narrate that they escape, to fight
another day. If you see this
coming and want to stop it, you
declare "Goal: Escape to fight
another day" for the villain.
Now the player of that villain
cannot have them escape until
they win that Goal.
It is easier to win when there's

no competition. The best way to
encourage someone to let you
win Conflict A is to make Conflict
B that they find more important.
A villain who wants to escape to
fight another day can create
"Event: Headquarters SelfDestruct." While the heroes
are fighting to save the
innocents, the villain has a clear
field to effect his escape.
Stage-Setting
Events
Story Token
Conflicts
Say your character has abrasive

Attitudes, but everyone is being
polite. That places you at a
disadvantage. Declare "Event:
An argument erupts", and
make it resolve quickly. Other
players may want to control it (to
control who blows their top and
why). You only care about the
inevitable argument, and how it
will let you bring your character's
abilities more easily into play.
Sometimes you will create

Conflicts that you have no
interest in, yourself, but which
you know other players will hotly
contest.
Whenever Story
Tokens are earned off of that
Conflict, you will get the first
one. Consistently being the one
to declare Conflicts that seem
implied by dramatic necessity
will help you reap a small but
constant profit in Story Tokens.
126
Page Order
Your place in the order of how things happen during the Page is
a subtle but powerful influence on what tactics you can pursue.
Since that place changes each Page, and is predictable, you
can factor it into your plans, using different tactics when you're
at different points in the page order. This section will discuss
the three possible positions in a three-player game.
Starter
You have first choice at absolutely everything. That is your only
advantage. Everyone else will act after you and can respond to
your actions. And on the next Page they will get yet more actions
to respond to what you did, before you take up your action third.
In Starting position you should be capitalizing on the groundwork
you laid in the previous Page. You will often want to restrict
yourself to low-risk tactics.
Second
Second is the most flexible position. You don't get prime pick of
Conflicts, but can generally get something good, and you have
only one person acting after you, so you can probably Resolve it.
Don't let this power go to your head, though. Remember that you'll
be Starter next page. If you want groundwork to capitalize on then,
you'd better start laying it now. Creating a juicy Conflict that you
can claim next Page is well worth your action.
Third
Third position is the most reactive. You'll get to claim only left-over
Conflicts. On the other hand you have final action, for the best
chance to gain something for minimal effort.
You benefit most by claiming something you already control. If you
lose control by the time it gets to your turn then you can spend the
energy to try to get it back. Otherwise you can apply your energy
elsewhere. Third position is also the best place to execute highrisk tactics, as other players have the least opportunity to react.
127
Using and Abusing System

The Capes rules have been carefully codified. Different people
can each read the rules and then agree on what they are and
are not allowed to do with the game mechanics. But there are
some basic ground-rules to using the system that are different
enough from other roleplaying games that they merit specific
mention.
First, Capes is competitive. Players are expected to play with
common respect and good sportsmanship, but they are also
trying to win out over each other, to gain more influence over the
story than the other players.
But roleplaying is also a social activity. Many of us are taught
that competition isn't friendly. People are tempted to do less
than their best, so as not to offend.
In a sport it would be obvious that this is undercutting the fun of
the other players. They are playing, as much as anything else,
for the challenge of a fair conflict, hard fought. Giving them a
victory out of charity or a sense of obligation is robbing them of
that enjoyment.
Players should do their best to take advantage of the rule
system in any way they possibly can. They should use both
tactics that are tried and true and radical new ways of using the
same old rules.
If a player discovers a gimmicky little rules technique that lets
them sieze an advantage over the other participants, they
should be congratulated. They haven't abused the system (as
the accusation sometimes goes) they have used the system as
it is designed to be used.
128
Second, Capes is often unequal. The only guarantee is that

everyone will start with the same opportunity to use the rules.
Some players will do a better job than others. They will have
more fun and more control of the story as a result. That is how
it is supposed to work.
That is, in fact, the only way that people can be encouraged for
doing an exceptional job. If everyone is rewarded equally by the
system, enjoying the same right to influence the plot, then really
nobody is being rewarded for what they do. They are receiving
the same treatment, no matter how good or bad their play is.
As with competition, some of the thrill of the game is that you
can change your fortunes through your own actions. That
means that you can screw up and miss opportunities just as
much as it means that you can achieve great things. Many
players, when asked, are willing to accept the risk of the one in
exchange for the chance of the other.
129
Resources
There is a lot of randomness in Capes. Dice are rolling all the
time. But the actual outcomes are not as random as they
appear. They are the result of what resources players have,
and what they choose to spend. When a game has hit its stride,
the person who most wants to win a Conflict almost always
does, and the losers make a conscious choice to let it go. Only
the players who have a good balance of resources will get to
play that way. Everyone else is at the mercy of fortune.
Debt Management
Debt is the most basic resource, and the only one that you can
gain at will. You gain it every time you use a Power or powered
Style. Because a character can do this both in her action and in
each reaction, she can generate a number of points of Debt
each Page equal to the number of characters plus one. That's a
lot of Debt in a short period of time.
It is possible to have too much Debt. All told your character's
Drives cannot hold more than nine debt, and getting them that
perfectly spread out is rare. More than that or an uneven
distribution means you're Overdrawn. If you have a lot of Debt
you have less flexibility. You'll need to Stake, and can't afford to
take back doubled debt from a lost Stake. The imbalance takes
away your freedom to lose Conflicts.
It is possible to have too little Debt. While characters can earn it
quickly, they can spend it even more quickly. Staking it provides
a big boost to your success, and will often imply an easy win in
a Conflict if you Stake more than your opposition. When you set
out to take charge of the story, and have your character achieve
things, you'll often find your Debt dwindling away. If you run low
on Debt you have less flexibility. You can't afford to Stake on
important Conflicts. You can't afford to win your own Stakes.
The imbalance takes away your freedom to win Conflicts.
130
Everyone will have a different balance with which they're

comfortable. Many players try to have between four and six
Debt on hand at any time, with at least two on a single Drive.
They create more quickly whenever they Stake and win. This
leaves them enough room to absorb an unexpected loss, while
giving them enough Debt to Split Conflicts where they need an
extra boost to win.
The key to gaining Debt is to get yourself into a mindset where
you don't have to strain for reasons that your character would
use their Powers (particularly on Reactions). The Premise of
Capes starts with "Power is fun". If you play a character who
loves showing off, and being super-human, and does so at
every opportunity then you'll have plenty of Debt. If you play a
character who is conflicted about their powers, and uses them
only when absolutely necessary, then you will never have
enough Debt for your purposes.
The key to eliminating Debt is to remember that other players
want to take it away from you. If they can live with the in-game
consequences then they will happily let you win Stakes, so that
they can secure Story Tokens. Since you can shed Debt on
minor victories as easily as major ones, you should make sure
there are some Conflicts that are vitally important to your
character, but not that big a deal to anyone else. A player
running an arch-villain will probably fight you tooth and nail on a
Conflict like "Hold city hostage", but let you have "Prove myself
to Mary Sue".
131
Story Tokens
You will earn almost all your Story Tokens by losing Conflicts
where your opponent Staked Debt. To earn Story Tokens, you
need to put yourself into a situation where that can happen.
That means you have to find a player who has Debt to Stake,
and put yourself on the opposite side of the Conflict they're
going to Stake on.
In many ways you are giving a sales pitch. Your target, whom
we shall call "the mark," is holding Story Tokens that are
rightfully yours, in the form of Debt. Your job is to separate him
from those Tokens gently but earnestly, in a way that leaves him
happy with the exchange and eager to do it again as soon as
possible. The good news is that you're selling victory, which
everybody wants. The bad news is that, first, you may not be
selling the particular brand of victory your mark is looking for
and, second, he may try to get it without paying you the Story
Tokens you deserve.
To sell the one precise Conflict that your mark will pay anything
to win you need to understand him. You need to know what he's
looking to achieve right now. The most important skill to help
you in this is empathy. Passive empathy is the gentle method of
observing the cues that the mark is deliberately giving off.
When he cheers, you note that what just happened makes him
happy and excited. When his eyes narrow you note that what
just happened makes him sad or angry. When he looks
aimlessly around the room, or goes to get a drink, you note that
what is happening does not interest him. You remember these
cues, and try to figure out what things in the game elicit what
response from him even when he doesn't know himself.
132
Passive empathy is powerful, but slow. Aggressive empathy

requires more energy, but is often much faster. Aggressive
empathy is passive empathy plus actively testing your theories.
Say you notice that your mark sits up straighter and leans
forward with interest when an explosion occurs near Love
Exemplar Polly Trueheart. Theory: He is interested in
protecting Polly. How do you test that? Endanger Polly, of
course! Goals like "Kidnap Polly" or Events like "A huge statue
is about to fall on Polly" are easy to introduce. You can tell
objectively whether they attract his interest. If he's interested
then he'll spend his actions to control the Conflicts. Maybe he
really is interested in protecting Polly, and will resist both these
Conflicts. Maybe he's interested in Rescuing Polly so he'll
oppose her being squashed by a big statue, but will support her
being kidnapped, since it gives him the opportunity to rescue
her later. These are the things you find out by experimentation.
There is a set of objective indicators in the system to help you
make your way. The Debt your mark has accumulated will tell
you what he's most inclined to Stake. So if he's got a lot of
Hope, you throw him a bunch of common people in need of
rescue. If he's got a lot of Love, you throw him a close, personal
friend (or better yet, a romantic interest).
To force the mark to pony up the Tokens you want, you have to
create a convincing, sincere threat. The higher you raise the
opposing side, the more your mark is forced to Stake in order to
win it. Nobody needs to Stake to beat a two, but Staking is
almost required to beat a six.
Part of being convincing as an antagonist is to occasionally
show that you're willing to force people to lose Stakes, foregoing
the Story Tokens for the sheer glee of handing them back
double their Debt. Of course, that doubled Debt makes them an
even more attractive mark.
133
Inspirations
Inspirations are the portable form of victory. They let a player
carry over their victories (and even the minor moral victories
amidst crushing defeats) to spend on later parts of the story.
To get the most benefit from Inspirations, remember that there is
no such thing as an unimportant victory. All Inspirations are
created equal. You can get them by defeating the villain's
fiendish plan or by talking to the lackey who feeds you slop in
the dungeons. They're exactly the same as far as the rules are
concerned.
As with giving away Debt, the trick to gaining Inspirations
without a big fight is to figure out the small ways in which your
opponent is happy to lose. A player with a cackling arch-villain
is not going to mind losing a Conflict about how well their
minions are treated. They don't want to treat their minions well.
By spotlighting the minion-misery, you are helping them tell their
story. Then you subvert it into your story by using the
Inspiration to later play the minion's sudden but inevitable
betrayal.
134
Strategy
Strategy in Capes is about resource flow. A player with a good
sense of how to get and spend resources is close to having a
winning strategy. They just need a good sense of what they're
accumulating these resources for, and when to spend them.
The rule of thumb is not "Save whatever you have too little of,"
but rather "Spend whatever you have a lot of."
Scenes will create different sets of resources, depending on
what type of scene they are. A short, interpersonal scene (often
"an aside") will tend to consume Debt while creating Inspirations
and Story Tokens. A long scene, particularly super-powered
combat, will consume Story Tokens and Inspirations while
creating Debt.
In the early stages of a story, short scenes will be the rule, and
players will constantly be scrambling for Debt and Story Tokens.
Losing Stakes in a Conflict, particularly if there are Stakes on
both sides, is a winning strategy in this phase. The loser gets
both Story Tokens (from the winner) and Debt (from the doubled
Stake).
At the climax of a story, long scenes will be the rule and players
will be working hard to get rid of Debt, and trying to figure out
how to spend Story Tokens. They probably can't afford to lose
many Stakes at this point. A winning strategy in this section is
to spawn many minor Conflicts to stake Debt on, and then use
Story Tokens to Claim several of them each Page, resolving as
many as possible. This burns through Debt at a spectacular
rate, so that players can avoid ending the game ridiculously
Overdrawn. Playtesting games have ended (more than once)
with characters twenty or more points Overdrawn.
135
Setting Scenes
As with creating Conflicts, many players overlook the tactical
significance of setting a Scene. Long scenes create Debt at the
cost of other resources. If you have enough Debt, but lack other
resources, you would be foolish to create a long scene just
because it is the next logical step in the story. Narration need
not proceed by unexamined plodding to the "next step". When it
is your turn to create a scene, you should make the kind of
scene that will benefit you.
Once you know what type of Scene you want, you can get your
mind working on how to justify it in the story. Perhaps, before
going off to the climactic fight with Professor Dread, Valiant
finally works up the nerve to make his feelings known to Jenny
Goodwright. Or maybe there's time for one television interview
in the midst of an alien invasion, where the hero can give hope
and inspiration to the oppressed human race.
You can use flash-backs to events decades ago, or dreamsequences of nonsensical events that never could happen, or
alternate futures only vaguely glimpsed through the powers of
super-science. A Scene need not be happening "right now" for
you to spend Debt in the scene, or earn Inspirations. Those
things most naturally occur in narrative time, not the fictional
time in which the story itself is ordered.
You are not the slave of the overall story. It is the servant of
your needs and wishes. The big events of the story will get
along just fine without you. There are other players out there
ready and waiting to take advantage of the type of scene you
don't (currently) have any use for. The alien invasion will wait
while you deal with the things that are important to your
character and the story you want to tell.
136
Choosing Characters
In every Scene you will have a choice of what character to play.
Don't let this choice fly by you unexamined. You may really love
your chosen super-hero, and in many scenes they may be the
natural choice. But if they don't have a natural place in this
scene then you're going to twiddle your thumbs and watch other
players with better-chosen characters accumulate resources.
Have a strategy for what you want to accomplish, and then
choose the best character to do that. If you are looking to earn
Story Tokens from a particular mark, for instance, you cannot do
better than to play the Exemplar of the mark's most Debt-laden
Drive. If you are in the market for Story Tokens generally,
playing a villain is a pretty sure way to get them.
Look, also, for the character that can really increase the tension
in a given scene. If two players are finally bringing their
characters close to a stable romantic relationship then it's time
to dig through the group file of old characters and bring back the
crazy bad-boy that one of the lovey-doves had a fling with many
episodes ago. Rocking the boat gives you plenty of opportunity
to profit, one way or the other.
137
Chapter 8
Preparing a
Story-Thread
The trouble with preparing for Capes is that you can't simply
outline a story that you will tell. One player rarely has enough
influence in the game to tell more than the most trivial story
alone. The best way to make a story happen is to draw other
players into helping you to tell it.
By sharing the power to tell your story with the other players,
you recruit their help in making it a reality. Your goal is not to tell
the story alone. It is to encourage others to tell it with you.
139
A/B-Plots Backward Forward
A-Plot and B-Plots

Television scriptwriters talk about A-Plots and B-Plots. The APlot involves all of the main characters of the episode, while a
B-Plot can involve just a few, or just one. It has been argued
that A-Plots are the "real" plot and B-Plots are just a sideline, but
those are arbitrary terms even in the scripted structure of
television. The distinction vanishes entirely in roleplaying. The
"real" plot is whatever is happening right now.
The distinction between A- and B-Plots is useful though,
because it lets you judge how big a task you are setting yourself
when you prepare a story. B-Plots are by far the easiest to
prepare. Often you only need the cooperation of one other
player to make them work. A-Plots are much harder. You need
to assure the cooperation of most, if not all, of the other players.
It's not impossible, but it's a tremendous challenge. We'll
discuss the preparation of a typical B-Plot first, and then talk
about how to expand that preparation to create A-Plots.
140
Preparing a story-Thread
The big Question(s)

Sometimes you'll create a story thread just because you've got
some ideas that you'd like to throw into the game. Maybe
you've thought up a really great villain and want to introduce
him. Maybe you think it would be fun to have a fight in the
caldera of an active volcano.
Sometimes, though, you'll be using the story as a venue to ask
some questions. For instance "Who would win in a fight
between Ultimate Woman and Major Machismo?" or "How
would the heroes deal with a story of creeping, supernatural
horror?" What you can't do effectively in Capes is to plan on
getting across any one, pre-determined answer. You can ask a
question, but if you already know the answer then there's
nothing left for the other players to contribute. Which means
that your story thread is likely to self-destruct from player
rebellion or disinterest.
Chris has noticed that Beth's character,

Night Maiden, is ludicrously cold and
arrogant, even in her secret identity as
Donna Tombs. He wonders how long
she's been like that. So he decides to
plan a B-Plot thread to examine the
question "What was Night Maiden like
when she was young?" He decides that
Donna's parents from Kansas will come
to visit their daughter in the big city.
141
Working Backward
To prepare a Capes story, it helps to start at the end and work to
the beginning. That way you can identify the selling points of
your conclusion, and use them as a lure to draw players through
the earlier scenes needed to get to that conclusion. Literary
authors refer to this as "foreshadowing". In Capes it is
aggressive advertising. You know the other players will find this
story interesting. So give them the information, right up front, to
realize how cool it's going to be.
Start your planning with the scene of your conclusion. Of
course, you cannot know what will be happening when the story
concludes. You'll only know that after everyone has gotten
together and played it. But you can quite easily imagine a lot of
the scene and situation in which the conclusion will probably
play out. If the arch-villain's base is in an abandoned
amusement park then that's where the heroes will end up,
whether they're captured and thrown in a death-trap or hot on
the heels of the defeated bad guys.
Chris decides that the scene where this B-Plot
thread concludes should be at a cozy dinner at home,
with Donna and her parents. He decides it would be
much more fun to have more of the Spotlight
characters there, so he makes a note to create an
explanation for more team-mates to be present if
they want to. So far this scene isn't dripping with
interest or conflict. Maybe if Donna were forced to
wear an impractical dress, just rife with the sort of
girlish formality that Night Maiden detests? Chris
changes the dinner venue from a comfortable home
meal to a stilted affair at an expensive restaurant.
142
Things Got Worse

Somehow or other you hope the story will get to the gruesome
conclusion. It will have to start off as mere potential a
problem not yet fully exploded. So now that you have a sense
of the conclusion, think about the sort of scenes where things
got worse.
Usually you will have several scenes of this type. As best you
can, make them each independent, so that they can happen in
any order or (if necessary) several can be skipped entirely.
This is also the time to look carefully at the notes you made in
the prior section (the conclusion). These will tell you the sort of
things you need to be advertising to draw the players on toward
the conclusion.
Chris figures there will be no problem
drawing Beth into a conflict between Donna's
need to guide her parents around town and
Night Maiden's need to fight crime. The APlot (whatever it turns out to be) will
probably provide evil in need of pummeling.
Reading his previous notes he sees that he also needs to lay
the groundwork for more characters being present at the
conclusion dinner. He thinks it would be funny if Donna
grabbed another character to pose as her boyfriend, for yet
another layer of confusion and lies. He decides that Donna's
mother (who he names Fay) is trying to set her up with a
handsome, obnoxious and boring friend of the family, Max
Morgan. Chris notes the need to establish Max as a fate
worse than death, to establish that Fay is trying to fix the
two up, and to establish the possibility of a fake boyfriend
as an excuse to duck the obligation. That might be a scene all
on its own, with Max showing up with the parents in tow.
Chris notes the need to establish this possibility earlier.
143
The Teaser
When you have a few "Things got worse" scenes, you've
probably got enough material to craft the Teaser. The Teaser is
the first scene, or scene fragment, where you make your big
sales pitch for how interesting the story thread will be.
Everything that you think is cool about the thread should be
shown in microcosm in the Teaser.
The Teaser is not aimed at the character. It won't do any good if
the character is interested in addressing your story, but the
player is not. The Teaser must arouse the interest of the
players, not by forcing them to be interested (by, for instance,
threatening their character) but by showing them the many
options that they will have to control the outcome of the story.
Trailing the Teaser in front of the other players in a way that will
interest them is a challenge to even a seasoned performer. You
need to quickly get across your excitement about the story, but
in a way that promises the players involvement. Writing up a
speech can help, if you remember that the speech is just a
guideline. If, on the other hand, you just take a sheet of paper
and read it as a monologue, you probably won't make anyone's
heart beat faster at the prospect of further monologues to come.
Chris decides on a phone call from the parents. He
hopes to insert it at some humorous juncture... for
instance in a scene where Night Maiden is fighting villains.
Looking over his notes he sees several fun things that
he wants to sell people on as quickly as possible: The
difficulty of maintaining secret identity with the parents
visiting, the long-term possibility of Donna in a slinky
dress, the unpleasantness of Max, Fay's desire to see
her daughter romantically attached, and the notion of
having somebody fake the role of her boyfriend.
144
Chris writes up a speech, to remind him what he wants to

cover (though he's very unlikely to get all that out without
having to modify it for the responses of other players):
"Donna, dear! Well, I know, I shouldn't call you on this
number, but it's so hard to get you at your apartment. You
keep such strange hours. I keep telling your father that
there's some young man you're keeping a secret from us.
No? Ah well. But Donna, wonderful news! Your father has a
conference in Millennium city... a last-minute thing, you know
how the company works. So we'll be coming to see you. I
absolutely want to take you out to La Bergerie. I've heard
such good things. It will be nice to see you in a gown again,
you dress like such a tom-boy. And since you don't have a
man in your life, I thought we'd invite Max Morgan. He lives
right in town, and he complains that you never even try to
meet with him. I remember how much he doted on you when you
were both young. He would spend just hours and hours
chasing you with slugs. It was so very darling. Good
memories, oh yes. Don't bother picking us up, I know how
busy you are. Max has offered to drive us from the airport,
anyway. So, we'll all see you soon!"
145
Working Forward
Once you have the story thread plotted out from end to
beginning, it's time to work it forward from beginning to end and
fill in all the details that you'll need in order to actually help it run
smoothly. At a minimum, you should write up interesting
Attitudes and other abilities for the major supporting characters
you intend to introduce. Look over your notes to see what sort
of Abilities would help to reinforce the points you want to convey.
Remember that, if you do your job right, you will not be playing
these characters much. You will be handing them off to other
interested players. Designing them correctly from the beginning
will make it more likely that those players will work toward the
ideas you've imagined.
Chris starts designing characters. He gives Fay "Subtly

hint about grandchildren", and "Assume the worst". He
gives Max "Ingratiating," "Egotistical" and "Rich".
146
This is also the time to start writing up the Conflicts that you
expect to use throughout the thread. Having these right to hand
(perhaps even written on index cards) will help you to remember
to introduce them at the proper times. Conflicts are absolutely
essential to giving the other players a reason to get involved in
your story. These are the things they can immediately start
rolling (and, if you're lucky, Staking) on. And once somebody
wins them, the Inspirations earned are their reason to connect
back to the story in later scenes. Conflicts are the literal rules
representation of the player's right to get in there and tell the
story. Always make sure you declare as many as your story can
comfortably support.
The Conflicts you establish in the Teaser are particularly
important. If they don't attract the players' interest then you
probably will not get a second chance. All of the tricks that are
detailed in Chapter 6 will serve you well here. Every Conflict
should, ideally, be carefully considered and perfectly matched to
the players you want to involve.
The further you get from the Teaser, the more the situation is
going to diverge from your original plan. So at some point you
just have to stop writing up Conflicts and decide that you'll go
with the flow once you see what happens.
Chris feels strong opening with "Goal: Finish

phone conversation without worrying mother,"
and possibly following with "Goal: Make sure
Max doesn't pick up parents at airport".
147
"This changes everything!"

In working forward through the story, you should try think like the
other players. They'll be thinking about how to improvise an
unexpected story from the elements already present.
Everything you provide will be viewed as an opportunity.
Players will look, particularly, for ways that they can link your
plot with another plot (either the A-Plot or their own B-Plot).
Again, you can't tell for sure how the story is going to evolve, so
you can't know how players will try to link to your story. But the
superhero genre has a few common plot revelations that are
used to weave stories together. It's worth examining those.
A valued character is endangered or kidnapped
A mundane character turns out to be the alter-ego of
a super-powered character
A coincidence turns out to be conspiracy
As you consider these options, try not to invent ways to stop
players from taking over your story. If they decide to twist your
story elements that's a good thing! It means they're fully
engaged helping to tell the story.
Chris looks over his story. He notes that Fay is ripe

for being kidnapped. Max looks like he might be the
secret identity of a villain or an obnoxious hero. And why
was Donna's father called to the city so suddenly?
That's suspicious, and may mean that he has some
shadowy connection to what's going on... whatever that
turns out to be. He decides to write up the father, just
in case, and to add some provocative abilities like "Quiet"
and "Martial Arts".
148
It may seem to you that such huge changes in the detail

surrounding your story will make it impossible to get to your
conclusion. But if you've properly tracked the things you
actually need, from Conclusion back to Teaser, then everything
you need should already have been established. It is virtually
impossible for players to invalidate what you've created. As
they add to it they have to respect the facts already set out.
Often the added elements will turn a scene that was mediocre
as planned into a truly great one as it plays out. A scene where
Jenny Swift and Dana King vie for the affection of hunky grad
student Hugh Nelson is well, sort of plain. Now imagine Swift
has discovered that King is secretly Hooded Viper, the deadly
supervillain, but can't yet prove it. It might seem that the
romantic conflict can't occur but, really, how can it not?
Nothing has changed about their conflicting desires. All that has
changed is that the stakes have been secretly raised. The
romantic set-to becomes more than an isolated encounter. It is
another battlefield in the ongoing conflict between the two. The
same scene can play out, with a richer subtext.
Take the time to consider how such changes can improve your
story. Once you overcome the reflex to resist changes then
you'll be ready to capitalize on these new opportunities.
Chris considers how the dinner will play out if Max
is a super-villain. It would be more interesting, he
thinks, if the characters were secretly in conflict
during the dinner. Max has developed some way to
have a perfect alibi by being seen in public while his
crimes are being committed. They know he's going
to commit a crime across town while also being
present at the dinner. The conflict will be Donna
trying to figure out his trick, while he tries to pull
it off right under her nose. And, of course, Donna
has to deal with her parents at the same time.
149
Weaving a Web
As you think about linking your small plot-thread into the story in
various ways you'll see opportunities. If you decide that your
thread works better if, say, Billy Bob is held hostage by an archvillain you may find yourself reluctant to just sit back and hope
that the other players think to kidnap him. You'll want to do
some preparation on a story thread of him getting kidnapped.
Preparing your second story thread follows all the same
guidelines as the first. It is doubly important that you enlist the
aid of other players. You've got twice as much story that you
now might try to tell, and still the same amount of power you
always had.
The first benefit of working up multiple, interweaving threads is
that they strongly draw players in. If a player gets interested in
even one of the threads, the links to other potential story
threads will help interest them in those as well.
The second benefit is that once you have two story threads in
hand, you can afford to let one lapse if nobody gets excited
about it. You'll still have the second thread to spend your
energy on, and you won't have to face the uphill battle of trying
to foster interest where it didn't immediately spark.
The part that hurts is that some portion of your effort is almost
certainly going to be wasted. The more story threads you
prepare, the more likely it becomes that one or more of them will
never see more than a brief glimmer of screen time.
150
Chris likes the idea of Max as super-villain so much that

he decides to work it up as a separate story thread.
He envisions a conclusion in an abandoned church, built on
pilings over the river itself, with bats in the rafters and
holes in the floor over rushing water. The restaurant
scene he envisioned as the conclusion for the "Parents
Visit" thread is the final "Things get worse" scene for
this thread. Chris works backward from those points,
deciding what he'll need to establish to make Max a
reasonable candidate for secretly being the super-villain
of the week, then works forward filling in that
independent story thread.
151
Supporting your A-Plot

However, if you are interested in creating and fostering an Aplot, this type of over-preparation is often exactly what you
need. Remember that, to make an A-plot sing, you'll need the
cooperation and interest of many or all of the other players.
Offering a player a B-plot centered on the characters they enjoy
playing is a good way to get their interest. If that B-plot has
clear points of attachment to the A-plot that you're trying to sell
then they can regard it as a package deal. Helping you tell your
A-plot will in turn help them to tell their B-plot.
Often players will come to the table with their own ideas for Bplots. You're not likely to persuade them that your idea is better.
You'll have a choice between working with what they offer or
trying to force them to your bidding. And, of course, forcing
them into being interested just isn't possible.
Usually you'll have to discard the B-plot you figured out, and
decide how to use the same points of attachment to latch on to
their offering. This sounds complicated in theory but is usually
simple in practice. Say you were planning to foster a romantic
B-plot, then kidnap the character's girlfriend. Instead the player
creates a B-plot centered on their family and the rough
relationship with the character's little sister. Kidnapping the little
sister probably fills all the same needs in your A-plot. And it
does so in a way that draws on the preparation the other player
has put in, and respects their role as co-creator of the story.
152
Gina decides she'd like to try to present an APlot. Her group tells stories about the Dark
Squad, secret agents charged with ferretting out
supernatural threats to national security. She
wants to dig deeper into the questions of secrecy,
and how much lying is justified by a noble goal.
She creates an A-Plot around a young occult
researcher (Brad Pace) who learns too much. A
dark cult and its unnatural servants target him
for assassination. While it will seem natural (at
first) for the good guys to defend him, even they
will have to worry at the end about whether he can
be allowed to go free, knowing what he knows.
The final conflict will work
better supported by a B-Plot.
Gina sets up a conclusion
where one of the Dark Squad
has to choose between their
friendship and/or love for
Brad and their duty. She
leaves that open, ready to
tailor it to any player who
seems interested at the time.
Gina also wants to intimate
some secrets within the Dark
Squad organization.
She
prepares a thread for Jack's
character, Quickdraw, that will
imply that the organization
knows more than it's telling
about his bloody origin. Brad
is on the verge of learning
more, if given the chance.
Howie's character, Johnny

Graves, has had previous
difficulties concealing his
activities from his younger
sister. Gina preps a B-Plot of
the sister possibly getting
involved in the trouble.
153
Appendices
You can spend a huge amount of time picking the perfect name
for your hero's secret identity, or the perfect words to make up
your mad scientists invention.
But if you don't have that sort of time, or doing it is not a happy
labor of love for you, just pick and choose from pre-chosen
elements out of the appendices.
155
Adam
Eddie
Hugh
Nick
Max
Bruce
Bill
Frank
Victor
Will
Dan
Tim
Tom
Kurt
Glen
Carl
Jack
John
Steve
Scott
Rick
Rex
Lance
Alex
Eric
Henry
Norman
Michael
Peter
Bobby
Phillip
Vincent
Walter
Dave
Douglas
Tony
Kevin
Gordon
Calvin
Charlie
Jimmy
Stanley
Stuart
Richard
Robert
Leo
Male
Alfred
Arthur
Holland
Noel
Monty
Brandon
Brent
Felix
Vance
Wayne
Dennis
Terry
Dale
Kirk
Guy
Clark
Chester
Charles
Sidney
Cecil
Reed
Roland
Theo
Alice
Annie
Audrey
Nina
Mary
Betty
Paula
Fay
Vicky
Wendy
Tina
Dana
Doris
Kim
Gwen
Carol
Jill
Jane
Sarah
Sue
Rita
Rose
Lois
Elizabeth
Angela
Yvonne
Nicky
Maggie
Becky
Peggy
Felicia
Vanessa
Veronica
Theresa
Diana
Dorothy
Kathy
Christine
Claudia
Jackie
Jenny
Sandy
Susan
Rebecca
Robin
Lana
Evelyn
Iris
Holly
Nikita
Michelle
Bonnie
Polly
Phyllis
Vivian
Wanda
Donna
Dawn
Trudy
Kelly
Grace
Constance
Charlotte
Jean
Sylvia
Sharon
Renee
Roxanne
Lilith
Female
York
Hart
Hayes
Knight
May
Black
Pace
Frost
West
Wayne
Tate
Duke
Troy
Kent
Grey
Cross
Giles
James
Stark
Snow
Roy
Rush
Lane
Olsen
Osborne
Hunter
Nelson
Morgan
Banner
Parker
Foster
Watson
Wagner
Doyle
Tucker
Tesla
Kirby
Griffin
Gardner
Jenkins
Jackson
Stacey
Santiago
Richards
Rogers
Logan
Ilyan
Harper
Hood
Noble
Moon
Bishop
Powers
Faust
White
Valentine
Drake
Tombs
Trueheart
King
Queen
Graves
Chase
Jordan
Savage
Strange
Rasputin
Rook
Love
Surname
A
Names Science Magic Index
Mundane Names
Pick a first name and a surname. The nearer the rows the
more the names will alliterate (e.g. "Veronica Valentine")
156
Appendices
Scientific Gadgets
Pick one term from each column. The higher it is in the
column, the more modern the terminology. Lower in the
column are more antiquated terms.
So, for example, selecting from high in the table will create
modern devices like a "Proto-quantum Inertial Flux
Discriminator". Selecting from low in the table will create
old school gadgets like a "Micro-Hydraulic Steam Wave
Bomb".
MetaProtoQuasiHyperInterMonoMegaAntiMicroSuper-
Quantum
Nucleic
Temporal
Dimensional
Spatial
Molecular
Atomic
Magnetic
Electric
Hydraulic
Resonant
Intrinsic
Inertial
Harmonic
Proton
Vibration
Gravity
Energy
Fluid
Steam
Flux
Probability
Asymmetry
Spin
Polarity
Field
Particle
Wave
Beam
Pulse
Oscillator
Discriminator
Capacitor
Accelerator
Stabilizer
Scrambler
Anchor
Scope
Cannon
Bomb
157
Magical Incantations
Pick one term from each column. Combine any which way
to make up something that a sorceror can swear on (or at,
or about). Using the same row will produce heavy
alliteration ("By Merlin's Mystic Might!"), while mixing it up
will reduce the effect ("It's more fearsome than the
Gruesome Fangs of Legba!") You can also go through the
second and third column of the table more than once ("I
swear upon Akhenaton's Awesome Crystal Circle Divine
Mystic Virtue Dance Ordeal Portal!")
Akhenaton's
Baldur's
Cuchulainn's
Durendal's
Eris's
Fenris's
Gilgamesh's
Hoggoth's
Isis's
Jove's
Kali's
Legba's
Merlin's
Nebuchadnezzar's
Odin's
Perseus's
Quetzacoatl's
Ra's
Sibyll's
Titania
Uriel's
Vishnu's
Wakanda's
Yggdrasil's
Zoroaster's
158
Awesome
Bristling
Crystal
Divine
Enticing
Fractured
Gruesome
Hoary
Immutable
Jewelled
Kindred
Legendary
Mystic
Nefarious
Onerous
Princely
Quivering
Raging
Soothing
Trusty
Unstoppable
Vast
Wasted
Yearning
Zealous
Ankh
Beard
Circle
Dance
Exorcism
Fangs
Glare
Hosts
Illusion
Judgment
Killer
Lore
Might
Needle
Ordeal
Portal
Quills
Rod
Shield
Titan
Uprising
Virtue
Weaving
Yell
Zombies
Appendices
Index
A-Plot pp. 118, 140, 152
Abilities pp. 25, 38, 68, 69, 102
Blocking Abilities pp. 38, 69
B-Plot pp. 118, 140-153
Action pp. 17, 18, 25
Alliance pp. 22, 26, 63
"And Then" rule pp. 26, 39, 121
Attitudes pp. 69, 102, 106, 120
Character Sheets p. 9
Characters
Akhten Hod pp. 53, 5565
Black Scarab pp. 53, 5565
Brunt pp. 21-24
Captain Liberty, pp. 2124, 33, 44, 45-65
Captain Roscoe p. 27
Chief Mannelli pp. 21-24
Comet Girl p. 115
Crimson p. 73
Doctor Phantom p. 31
Fivesight p. 73
Flare pp. 39-40
Galactic pp. 70-71
Gopher-Sailors p. 27
Hooded Viper p. 149
Iron Gauntlet p. 33
Janey Jones p. 116
Jetstream p. 37
Kid Swift p. 36
Liz Livingstone pp. 2124, 52-64
Magnet Master p. 33
Maximus p. 37
Metamorph p. 31
Moonbeam pp. 70-71
Night Maiden pp. 45, 4651, 141-149
Characters (continued)
Nocturne p. 36
Prang pp. 39-40
Professor Grim pp. 2124
Rocket Girl pp. 70-71
Roger Rocket p. 27
Solar Huntsman p. 36
Sylvia p. 27
Tyrranor p. 41
Zero-G p. 37
Zip pp. 44, 45-51
Claiming pp. 22, 24, 48, 60
Click and Locks pp. 44, 52, 77,
80, 120
Comics Code, pp 41, 59, 114
Conflicts pp. 26, 38, 71, 126, 147
Free Conflicts pp. 22, 45,
54, 58, 76, 105, 107,
109, 111
Deadlock p. 30
Debt pp. 32, 38, 47, 51, 124, 130
Debt Tokens p. 15
Drives pp. 19, 25, 32, 45, 68, 74
Despair pp. 35, 75
Duty pp. 34, 75
Fear pp. 35, 75
Hope pp. 34, 47, 75
Justice pp. 34, 47, 51, 75
Love pp. 34, 58, 75
Obsession pp. 35, 75
Overdrawn pp. 32, 58, 51
Power pp. 35, 75
Pride pp. 35, 75
Truth pp. 34, 75
Undifferentiated pp. 55, 74
159
Events pp. 18, 28, 126

Exemplar pp. 22, 44, 68, 75, 119
Sharing Exemplars pp. 45, 77
Free-Form pp. 44, 72
Game Master pp. 14, 16
Gloating pp. 29, 41, 59, 114, 125
Goals pp. 18, 29, 46, 126
Preventative Goals pp. 47, 126
House Rules pp. 20, 118
Index Cards pp. 15, 26
Inspirations pp. 19, 30, 51, 57, 124,
134
Narration pp. 16, 26-29, 38, 71,
121
Non-Person Characters pp. 53,
101
Locations p. 106
Phenomena p. 108
Situations p. 110
Things p. 104
"Not Yet" rule pp. 26, 54, 62
Page pp. 17, 18, 22, 127
Personae pp. 80, 88
Power Sets pp. 80, 82
Powers pp. 69, 102
160
Premise pp. 13, 32, 36, 113

Props pp. 15, 120
Reaction pp. 40, 47
Resolving pp. 18, 25, 30, 51
Scene pp. 17, 20, 46, 52, 136
Skill Sets pp. 80, 94
Skills pp. 69, 102
Splitting pp. 19, 25, 37, 50, 63,
124, 131
Spotlight Characters pp. 20, 119
Staking pp. 19, 25, 36, 49, 130
Starter pp. 22, 46, 127
Story Tokens pp. 17, 19, 22, 24,
30, 59, 124, 132
Styles pp. 69, 102, 106, 120
Teaser pp. 144, 147
Website pp. 9, 120

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What are the basic rules and mechanics of the game?

What are the basic rules and mechanics of the game?

What are some of the character archetypes described in the document?

What are some of the character archetypes described in the document?

Capes!

Copyright 2005 by Tony Lower-Basch

Printed in the United States of America

Click and Lock

Comics Code 113

A- and B-Plots 139

I believe that comics and roleplaying both survive, not in spite of

Just the beginning

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Superheroes soar through the sky and leap across

Players in Capes take on many roles, but playing superheroes

... But do you deserve it?

You've been given a gift the rest of the world cannot

You may, quite reasonably, want to play a character who has

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

How to Pitch the Game

Escape from Tyranny:

Cons tant involv emen t:

New ways of playing:

What you'll Need

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

It's like playing volleyball.

How the rules help you

At the start of each Page, going clockwise around the table,

In their Action a player may either use an Ability or create a

By declaring an Event you say

By declaring a Goal you say

Debt Tokens go on Drives. Each Drive has a numeric Strength.

Players Stake by moving Debt onto Conflicts. Each character may

A super-ability earns a Debt Token each time it is used. Other

If Resolving would violate the group Code the Claimant instead

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Many roleplaying games assign authority to play a particular

Beth declares the first scene.

Alex declares that he will play Captain Liberty at a

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Each Page tells a distinct chunk of the story, in which characters

If this is the turn order

Then this is the turn

Alex, Beth, Chris, David

In Page #6 (above), Alex, on behalf of

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

After all players have had a chance to Claim, there is a period of

For each Action, a player may create a Conflict 26 or use an

The player may do any of

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Roger Rocket is trying to restart his

Captain Roscoe, Subterranean Pirate,

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Events are one of the two types

Once an Event is declared it absolutely, positively, will come to

Okay... how about "The

And then the bomb

Goals are one of the two types

Intro Scenes Conflicts Debt Abilities

Metamorph and Doctor Phantom are contesting an