Read the introduction to the series here.
E001 THE JUDAS CONTRACT
Based on the classic Teen Titans tale in which Terra (the blonde with the glowy hands) breaks Changeling's heart (he's the green kid). Poor guy's been unlucky in love ever since...and this was, like, 1984 or something.
And now we begin looking at the DC Event Dials, starting with those pulled as the non-figure element in the Crisis set.
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: This short dial will be done before you know it.
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SUSPICIOUS ALLY (Brown, slots A-C): At the beginning of your turn, choose a friendly character. The character is a wild card until the end of the turn. The character can use any other team ability it possesses, if any, but can use only one team ability this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: Build in some offense-oriented team abilities on your team: Superman Ally, Avengers, Titans (natch) for your Suspicious Ally to copy.
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AMBUSH! (Red, slots C-D): When an attack roll is made, if the attack is unsuccessful but the result of the attack roll is doubles, give an action token to the target if it has zero or one action token.
WHAT IT MEANS: Willpower, Indomitable or Power Cosmic/Quintessence will defend against this condition, but it’s not going to break you if you don’t plan for this.
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BETRAYAL (Black, slots D-F): At the beginning of your turn, choose an opposing character. You can immediately give that character an action as a free action. For the duration of the action, the character is considered friendly to your force and opposing to your opponent’s force, and any of the character’s canceled powers return for the duration of the action. You can’t attack that character this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: Whatever game plan you started with? It goes pear-shaped here when your opponent gets the effect of free Mind Control for an action. Keep your eyes open for unexpected openings.
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TITANS TOGETHER! (Green, slots F-G): At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6 for each friendly character that has one or two action tokens. On a result of 5 or 6, remove all tokens from the character. The character can be given action tokens this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: A chance to press or recover whatever advantage was gained or lost during BETRAYAL. This effect will be in force at the endgame once the dial stops turning.
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SUMMING IT UP: This E-Dial is pretty low-key. It will reward a wildcard abuse team (minus the wildcards) and characters who ignore pushing damage, but beyond that it won’t punish the average team build.
Next time we’ll look at another dial that inspired this event dial series: Identity Crisis.
I’m really liking this series, especially how you break these event dials down. I really wanted Civil War, but after reading your blog I’m not so sure. On the flip side, I never had any interest in Judas Contract, but now I’m thinking it might be a good one to pick up.
I’m glad you’re liking it! Stay tuned for more installments very soon. I’m having trouble balancing the blog between battle reports, theme builds and stuff like the e-dial series.