FAQ

Can a player use the Take Down move to inflict multiple Minor Conditions (like by choosing it three times for their choices, for example)?

Yes, but personally I only allow it when the Conditions are different - I make them work for it by having them tell me what that looks like. You can't put 3 Minor Conditions that are all "Beat Up" or something boring like that - the fiction still has to support the moves you make and vice versa. Likewise for the EIC inflicting multiple Conditions - that's fine, as long as that makes sense in the fiction. 

When I create my hero and choose a Drive Book, does it start open and with all the moves unlocked?

The default for the game is playing heroes that are brand new to superhero-ing so you choose a Drive Book to work towards, so it's closed, but you pick it so you have some goals to work toward in the game (that's why on the character sheet you write the Drive Book you choose under the "Working Towards" portion of the sheet.

Do I have to unlock the Drive Book itself before I can use any of the moves in it?

Yep. You do have to unlock the Drive Book itself, as well as the target move within it. If you look at the Drive Books you'll see a "Book available to open when:" and that's what you have to do to unlock that book. Likewise for the moves within it, you have to fulfill the requirement before the move is opened and can be used. You can unlock multiple things at once though, and you might unlock a move but not have the Book open yet (so have to open the book first in order to use the move).

When can I select a new Drive Book? Once I unlock everything can I move on to another Drive Book? What happens to the moves I already unlocked?

You can choose to work towards and unlock any Drive Book you want, at any time, whether you've finished opening it and the moves within it or not - it's up to you and how you want to portray your character. You keep any books and moves within them that you open and can use them as you like.

Are there any mechanical differences between the Powers Profile levels of Simple/Difficult/Borderline/Possible?

The differences in Powers Profile levels has more to do with consequences and/or what needs to happen in the fiction before the hero can pull them off rather than anything to do with the roll itself. As the names suggest, it's going to be more difficult to pull things off under certain conditions depending on how hard it is for the player character to do. That said, all things being equal, if there's no risk, no danger, and no moves being triggered, a player character can do anything on their Powers Profile without having to roll. If it isn't on their Powers Profile they'll have to Push for it.

What's up with the Possible category of the Powers Profile? What's the point of having one written down if it can only be accessed by Burnout, a move that let's you write in the power if you're successful anyway?

You're right that it wouldn't come up often, but there are several reasons for having the possible category. The first, and main reason, is to have a defined power progression on your Powers Profile as it helps round out powers (and the Possible category is the top limit of that - what's the theoretical limit of what you can do?). It helps you nail down your character and their powers.

Everything you do is supposed to factor into the fiction, too, so I usually work Possible powers into the game a bit more. I usually treat it like a Phoenix-force, repressed power or theoretical limit inside them that needs to be triggered to get out under extreme circumstances (though it's not always that powerful or destructive of course). So I'll ask the player what happened the last time they did it (powers of the Powers Profile are established because the PC has used those powers before so I'll often ask players to tell me about the time they learned how to use X Power on their Profile - it helps differentiate between the levels and gets you some cool flashbacks).

From there, I usually work with them to figure out what needs to happen in order for them to unleash their full potential. It has even ended up generating some pretty cool story arcs a la Dark Phoenix Saga, and even when it doesn't it's a great way to get some backstory.

What's the deal with the Impossible level on the Powers Profile? On the pregens that I have seen so far, they kinda seem to be all over the place.  Cyclops, for example, has the "See into other dimensions" as his Impossible power.  I don't see where this came from.  There's nothing in his other powers to suggest that this is a possibility, so why is it indicated as an impossibility? 

You can use the Impossible category as a natural extension of existing powers (he can punch through steel, but not adamantium, and so on), and that's probably the smarter way to go about it when you're just getting started or don't have your character's powers nailed down in your head yet.

The reason why the pregens are different is because I enjoy using the Impossible category to suggest things that the character can't do now, but might actually be able to do in the future. For all those in the know, for example, Cyclops' optic blasts were actually said to come from another dimension and that his eyes were the conduit to it (though that may have been retconned at some point). Hence, he definitely can't see into another dimension, but after a Dead For Now move, who knows?

As another example, Jubilee, was, in fact, immune to telepathy for a brief stint and her power has been shown to be able to block telepathy on occasion. It's not something we usually see her do though, and I think that was also retconned soon after it happened.

So you can use the Impossible category in two ways:
1) Show a limit to an existing power - so Cyclops' could have been something about distance or power, as with Jubilee, definitely. This is probably the best bet for players as it sets a definitive ceiling on a power and is far more helpful for the EIC, and is the only possibility written about in the text (powers come up in play far more often than death!)
2) Show a power that could be manifest or change after a retcon (Dead for Now move).

How do players get Advancement points?

If you look at any Drive Book, and any move within a Drive Book, you'll see that they all have an "available to open when..." condition. You open a Drive Book or move when you meet that condition. At the same time, when you meet one of those conditions you also get an Advancement Point.

A typical game of WiP has the players start with only their Origin Book, and working towards opening a Drive Book. Players can choose to work towards any Drive Book they like, switch to another whenever they like, have multiple books open or working towards multiple ones as they like. Of course, it's going to be a lot easier to only be working towards one, and to be working with the EIC to fulfill some of those Conditions because some of them will need EIC involvement (and really, the EIC should always know what the players are working towards, but can be forgiven if the player is constantly changing or working towards multiple books).

Why would anyone choose willingly to have limitations if they will give them both narrative disadvantages and mechanical ones (when getting rid of them) and no advantages at all?

Limitations are not necessarily only a narrative device; When a player uses the chart to figure out how well they fit in, they're making a choice both about how well they pass for an everyday person, and, basically, how powerful they are. The idea behind the whole thing is, essentially, that the more powerful you are, the less capable you are of forming meaningful human connections (hence the Bonds vs. Powers dynamic). Of course, the chart doesn't actually limit powers at all, it just limits how many things they can start out with on their Powers Profile.

But it's important that the EIC have an idea of how to endanger the player characters. So it's in these situations that limitations become more important than just a narrative device to reconcile their ability to fit in well (or not) with people; When a player wants to play a character like Superman, Hyperion, Thor, the Hulk, or other very powerful characters, they won't fit in well with others at all and will start with a great deal of powers defined in their Powers Profile. That means that it could be hard for the EIC to come up with threats and situations that could put those types of characters in danger, so that's why it's really important that conversations take place between these players and their EIC so that the EIC knows how to make the game fun and exciting for them - this often means coming up with limitations for these kinds of PCs.

Even for characters that are not super powerful and may not necessarily need big or important limitations, it's still fun to play characters that are challenged and it's often part of key character concepts for many heroes in comic books even when they can pass for normal and fit in (like many of the X-Men, for example). We only chose to represent the Ease of Fitting In in the chart because that was the key concept that matters in most comic books.

Worlds in Peril is the kind of game that kind of requires that the players all want to be playing and contributing to the story. I suppose, mechanically speaking, if I was a gamer with a certain type of mindset there would be no reason (re: no advantage) to give myself limitations. However, if I wanted to be part of a story that was actually fun - one in which the EIC actually knew how to present interesting and challenging obstacles and threats in the game, then I'd have every reason to limit myself

The reason that there is the option to spend Achievements to remove a limitation is purely for story purposes. When you remove a limitation that essentially means that you are growing in power. Imagine if Superman started exposing himself to krypotonite every night before bed and built up an immunity. That would take time, experience, and makes the character way, way more stronger - it's going to be harder for their EIC to put that character in danger. By the same token - the more powerful a character is, the harder it is for them to fit in. Power distances you from people, makes you harder to relate to, and makes people scared of you. Therefor, when you remove a limitation and get more powerful, your Bond Threshold goes down to reflect that.

How do Conditions work for villains and how does their Condition Threshold work?

Conditions are more like Plot Armor than Hit Points. A villain is always getting hurt or hindered in some way when they take a Condition and when their Condition Threshold is reduced to 0 they lose agency in the fiction. What that looks like will depend on you and what's going on in the fiction. It could mean they're simply knocked out, or killed, or surrender, or dissolve into goo, or bargain to be let go, whatever. It basically means that the PCs have control over them and they lose agency. All Conditions are weighted equally in terms of counting towards knocking down an adversary's Condition Threshold (a Minor Condition takes 1 off their Threshold, and so does a Moderate, and so does a Critical). The only difference there is staying power - an adversary, just like a player character, will be able to recover or shrug off a Minor Condition far easier than a Moderate one, and a Critical Condition virtually guarantees a permanent hit to their Condition Threshold, unless that villain is particularly nasty.

Conditions at any severity level represent things that have happened/are happening in the fiction. So a player can choose to inflict a Minor Condition, but they can only do so if they've first described their actions in the fiction (which they need to do to even trigger the move). The severity of the Condition is handled mechanically by what the player rolls and chooses. What a Condition is called should flow naturally from their description. If the PC punches a villain in the face, they might inflict the Condition "Shaken up" or "Broken jaw" etc. If the PC launches a psychic attack then they might inflict a Condition called "Migraine" or "Psychic Barrier" depending on what the PC is trying to do.

The number is for keeping track so you know when their Condition Theshold has been reached, or where it's at. The description is to ground it in the fiction and so that whoever has the Condition knows why they have it and maybe what they can do to be rid of it (and what that looks like in the fiction).

How do I handle powers that cause immobilization, like freezing, telekinesis, and paralysis as an EIC?

Powers that would instantly take enemies out of the action, like mind control or immobilization, should be treated differently depending on the character and how they go about inflicting those kinds of Conditions.

First off, we can treat their "hold" over a character differently depending on the severity of the Condition, with a Critical Condition being something like complete control, and a Minor Condition being something tenuous. No matter what Condition it is, it's also going to depend where the power is on the character's Powers Profile as well - if it's Simple, Difficult, or whatever for them to do.

If it's Immobilization in the form of Mind Control, depending on the severity, treat it like any other Condition - can the bad guy shrug it off? How powerful are they? Remember that literally any sentient being on the planet has will-power of some kind, so is going to be acting against it. As an example, for a Minor Condition, I would tell them that their enemy is struggling against it and their hold on them is waning - do you want to try and lock them down? It's getting painful, you're going to have to Defy Danger. If It's a more severe Condition, then I'd probably transfer the Condition to something else - you see him start to struggle against your control, blood trickles down his nose and his actions are slow and deliberate. I had one player who put a Severe Condition on a Heavy Hitter (he was a lower level Prof X basically) and I had the Heavy Hitter recover from it, but he lost all memories of who he was and what he was doing there. He actually ended up joining them and helping them take down the Mastermind later, for example.

Other times I say something like, "ok, he's immobilized in the physical world as you pull him into your psychic mindscape. What does it look like in there?" And then I have them fight on that psychic plane, so their body was getting pummeled, but only for as long as the psychic character was willing to fight and take Conditions from him in the mindscape. That was cool as well.

I think it's also totally fine to say that, yeah that worked really well this time - you lock them down and you guys totally win the day. But the Mastermind learns from that and takes steps to make them threats (the bad guys should always be a threat to the heroes) by equipping them with psychic dampeners the heroes have to take out for the psychic to get in first, or reduces psychic Conditions, etc. You can have Professor X in the game, but you need to make sure that you can still present challenges and have them go up against threatening stuff.

In comics though, it's always a strain for characters to do that stuff - I think you can threaten their hold over their enemies fairly easily with it being still very much in-genre. You should also make enemies with moves that try to disrupt their concentration, or that challenge the player with their strength of body or will, or have enemies that are also psychic and can fight back, and so on.