Bay of Villains 1.5! A big update!!!

Hello my numerous and adoring fans! I'm ready to unveil the newest update to my award winning hit roleplaying game Bay of Villains! The biggest difference I want to highlight is the new design angle I'm taking: Villains' stress boxes have been expanded from 9 to 11, and when the stress track is filled, they enter a berserk state called a Traumatic Surge! I hope this encourages you all to blow through your stress, take bigger risks, and really go to town when things come crashing down. 

I hope you enjoy! and as always, please let me know anything that springs to mind when you read the game! All data is good data!!!

As with last time, my disorganized ass recorded some patch notes, which I've pasted down below:

Framing

Rewrote/edited intro and description for power sources.

Discovered the incredibly basic “justify” function, so the columns look less awkward (big deal).

Rules

Generally fiddling with the entanglements, Reducing some CASH costs.

Added clarifying language that grenades count as scale 1 for effect and superscience weapons count as scale 2 for effect. 

Added Bulletproof as a mechanic, which heavy armor can give you. Fictionally makes you more resistant to bullets, blades and shrapnel, which should improve your effect.

Made heavy weapons able to penetrate bulletproof foes, giving a reason to take them other than a vague fictional advantage. Also added an anti-materiel sniper rifle to the list of suggestions, because one of my playtesters took one and I thought it was cool and fitting. Also took rockets off that list, instead letting the superscience weapon fill the same niche.

Increased stress tracks from 9 to 11, changed steady crew upgrades now provide +2 stress boxes, and introduced the Traumatic Surge mechanic. Both changes are designed to encourage players to do more crazy shit, and to not be afraid to max out their stress during a score. 

Increased heavy load to be 7 boxes, to account for the increased emphasis on load and items and to make taking heavy load more appealing.

Added two example rituals, Cast in Cold Marble (which is a simple fuck you curse that turns someone to stone) and Bind Soul, a demonic trademark that all demons explicitly know.

Playbooks

Changed Demon’s True Form again, removing potency to manipulation and adding swift wings, changing the 4 tick divine attention clock to 6, and clarifying that you can use the item any number of times. I like the idea of a demon switching around their dark gifts on the fly, but taking more and more soul shock and alerting the angels at the same time.

Combined The Evil Within into Devil on their Shoulder, so the ability now grants potency when trusted, and allows the demon to learn their darkest secret. The rest of the demon didn't lend itself to the manipulation aspect of demon tropes, so I decided to consolidate the two trickster-y abilities into one.

Changed Hell to Pay to be the same special armor ability, but removing the original add on ability and adding an additional xp trigger related to getting vengeance. The original ability was finicky and demons should love getting payback.

Added Sow Havoc ability, letting demons command others to succumb to their worst attributes. I'd felt that demons weren't magical enough for one of the core magic power source users, and this hopefully adds a bit more supernaturality. 

Changed the demon's friends around. The religious aspect of the exorcist friend and the former priest didn't fit well with the rest of the setting, so I changed the exorcist to a "Soulmonger" (highlighting the demon's soul stealing capabilities) and the former priest to a werewolf, to put that element of the setting front and center through who the players' know.

Changed siren’s Favors Owed ability to still give +1d to all downtime rolls but only increase effect for reducing heat. Applying it to acquiring an asset was stepping on the merc’s “I know a guy” ability.

Changed well packed to allow Merc to spend 1 stress instead of load to use pack. I'd felt that Well Packed was a little weak and underused in my playtesting.   

Moved the pack item to be part of Well Packed ability on the playbook sheet, added More Ammo as item (so they have unlimited ammo like solid snake) and changed fine laser guided rpg to fine heavy ordinance (giving the Merc more freedom in how they blow things up and incorporating the new scale and bulletproof mechanics)

Changed mercs xp trigger to “you bested a superpowered foe, or proved your worth.” The previous version about pursuing or receiving what you owed felt stilted at best, or redundant at worst.

Changed Shift’s Healing Factor from reducing stress to push yourself to ignore harm to spending 2 stress to become bulletproof (as a result of wolverine esque regeneration).

Changed Stray Titan’s Nigh Invulnerable to special armor to resist physical harm and becoming bulletproof for the rest of the score or scene. You know, like superman would be. 

Changed the Stray Titan’s xp trigger to “you displayed your dominance, or you struggled with earth culture.” Stray Titans are the physically strongest of the playbooks, and they tend to dominate any fight they find themselves in. previously, “adapted to, or struggled with, earth culture” was a bit too broad, and could conceivably be anything you do.

Changed the Stray Titan's friends around. Lost the Investigative reporter (sorry superman fans) and added an Atlantean Noble, to put that character archetype in the player's view by adding them as a friend or rival. Also changed the government agent (which government? Aroma? The Long Oak City Council?) into a foreign spy, which is both sexier and more exciting. 

Crews

Added the line "Everyone in Bay Megacity can fight at least a little bit." In the cohorts section, letting players know that they can even get their Rooks and Rovers into the fray.

I added small details to a  few crew contacts, and replaced the bar owners, because its the modern world and I wanted something a little different than the old timey flavor of barkeeps and bar owners. Insurgents get an atlantean gang boss, and trouble for hire gets a trauma surgeon (they'll probably need one).

I love y'all, especially anyone who reads to the end of this mess!