Players: Marc, Alex, Ben

We were in the mood for superheroes, so we decided to use the Superhuman Guide in the Downfall book.

We began with the Flaws, but quickly decided to deviate from the Guide: we chose Mercy as our Flaw. Next were the elements: we chose sun, tower, and ring. The resulting discussion put us in a circular city of concentric rings, each with towers growing higher and higher until reaching the center, where the highest tower lay. The sun shone brightly here most of the time.

We used the starting Tradition prompts to create the following:

• Our powers come from... corona particles, which we suffuse into death row inmates to transform them into heroes. Symbol: Suncrown Citadel, an array of rings atop the highest tower.
  
• Superheroes are identified by... silver collars worn around their necks. Symbol: when a hero dies, their ring absorbs their corona energy. We use those rings to power the Suncrown machine. More hero rings means a lower risk of failure in the transformation process.
  
• The Pardoners are above the law. Symbol: Pardoners, the arm of the justice system that metes out "punishment" after trial, wear a ceremonial white glove when granting pardon.
  

Next we made our own round of Traditions using the given categories:

• REVENGE - When someone wrongs you, you do something nice for them. Symbol: People need support groups to help them figure out how to get over their desire for vengeance, so we attend secret meetings to do that.
  
• BEAUTY - We actively try not to compare ourselves to the heroes, who become paragons of beauty when they transform and are thus impossible to truly emulate. Symbol: We even go so far as to change our natural traits that even remotely resemble a local hero, e.g. if I have black hair and so does the hero, I'll dye my hair.
  
• FAMILY - Each family has a hero who is considered part of their family, and will come over occasionally for dinner or to hang out with the kids. Symbol: Millennium Park, a central place where heroes can take their families for the day.
  

We named our city New Dawn.

Next we created the three characters.

• Hero - Vigil, a superhero who is opposed to the idea of anti-revenge. He's one of the first heroes ever created, and became a hero when he fell into the machine during a fight with a criminal (he was a cop then). He's one of the oldest heroes, far outliving every other since, and is pushing 140 when the story begins.
  
• Fallen - Integrity, a superhero who used to be Vigil's sidekick but is now a full-fledged hero in his own right. His primary duty is to look for those in the city who seek revenge and stop them from committing any acts against their trespassers.
  
• Pillar - Eclipse, a superhero and Vigil's girlfriend. She has a husband and kids, but after becoming terminally ill, chose to transform into a hero. The process changes you fundamentally, so she now only goes home to her "family" out of an awkward sense of obligation and mercy.
  

Vigil's tribulations began early. At a memorial service for a fallen hero named The Arbiter, Vigil said a few words about how the city has changed over time. The media scrubbed all of his reminisces from the reports later, however. Next, Vigil attempted to spend time with his many families around the city (not enough heroes for a 1-to-1 ratio), but they were far too kind to take up his valuable time.

Vigil and Integrity then faced off against an old foe: Doctor Thunder, a tech-based supervillain whom they'd fought many times before. Integrity had to intervene when Vigil moved to harm the doctor, and for a moment Vigil backed off... but then Thunder spun with a terrible syringe in hand, and Vigil stepped in to protect Integrity, killing Thunder in the process. Integrity, unaware that he was in danger, swore not to tell anyone what Vigil had done.

As the story progressed, Vigil became more and more convinced that the city had become complacent and weak; that they'd turned over their justice system to the superheroes, and who were the heroes to say what was right and wrong?; that he was tired of watching heroes and villains come and go, with nothing ever changing but the names and faces; that the people of New Dawn were so eager to forgive that they would let almost anyone off the hook, even when the culprit deserved punishment.

When the city was attacked by The Scavenger, Integrity put a stop to his bloody rampage. But as Vigil looked on, Integrity pardoned the villain, and was about to let him walk free. Vigil looked at the ruined Millennium Park, with bodies strewn about it like dolls, and stepped in, killing The Scavenger and chastising Integrity for allowing a criminal to get away with murder.

Vigil's mental state deteriorated further as the city turned more and more power over to the heroes. Yet it seemed no one would dare mistrust him, as even when he interrupted a pardoning rally to point out a murderer among the crowd, the people would do nothing but forgive.

As the story neared its ending, Vigil was contacted by Doctor Thunder, now a brain in a jar. The good doctor tempted Vigil with twisted words, even as Integrity, who'd tailed his former mentor, tried to explain that the heroes must put themselves beneath the citizens, that they must lift them up, not rule over them. Vigil moved to kill Doctor Thunder once again, but Integrity, ever-merciful, got in the way, and was obliterated.

In our climactic finale, Vigil burst into Integrity's funeral and killed the Mayor, screaming that no one would stop him, that they would let him get away with anything because they had given all their power to someone who had no right to possess it. Eclipse, finally moved to act, fought against the much-stronger Vigil. They two battled their way to the Suncrown Citadel, where Vigil hoped to destroy the hero-creating machine. He did, but at a cost: both he and Eclipse were caught in the blast, and while he survived, she was annihilated due to being weak from fighting him.

Our Haven fell as the rest of the heroes swarmed around Vigil, not coming to strike, but to pardon, white gloves outstretched. Vigil, his sanity finally gone, flew off into the sky, heading for the sun that had borne him.

A fantastic game of Downfall. When paced carefully, Downfall allows for really elegant and poignant falls from grace, as we saw. The slow slide from noble hero to raving madman was really excellent. Thanks to my fellow players Alex and Ben for a great time!

So good!

I loved the slow buildup in this game. It was such a measured escalation to the climactic, city-smashing finale. Vigil killed Doctor Thunder by accident, just grabbing his arm but jerking the old man with such super-speed that it fractured every bone in his body, and from there on each encounter was another ratchet up.

I also loved how Integrity was the Fallen, theoretically the "bad guy" of our story, but he was (as his name foreshadowed) totally upright and trying to do the right thing. He was constantly trying to protect his old mentor and stop Vigil from going too far, even sneaking around and shadowing him when he feared Vigil was on the edge (so correct). He leaped in front of Vigil's eye beams to save brain-Thunder and of course "but there is a consequence" burned him out of existence.

Poor Eclipse! It was perfect that she was the last one standing in Vigil's way (well, except for the rising swarm of nameless superheroes) and that -- ideal Pillar that she was -- she *never* understood what was driving Vigil to turn against his own decades long legacy. She died fighting him with tears in her eyes.

Everybody at the table played great, but the Downfall rules were definitely fundamental to our fun. The hero/fallen/pillar roles drew sharp philosophical divides, the world creation gave us a clear picture of the society we were in and why it was messed up, and we used the "consequence" mechanic to up the tension over and over again -- Vigil would try something reasonably controlled and the Fallen would go "uh uh!" and escalate the trouble.

We had so much great philosophical debate but also so much good action. Classic superhero goodness. Two-thumbs up. Would smash city again.