City Advancement - Some Questions

[EldritchFire]

YS93-96 talk about city advancement. However, there are a few things I'm still lost on.

First off, it talks about promoting a threat to a theme. If it's left alone too long, sure it's going to get worse. However, I'm not seeing anything on "demoting a theme." Sure, themes can be lessened, inverted, or get worse...but nothing about changing a theme to a threat so that it can be resolved.

Second, we know that you can promote a threat to a theme, adding to the Theme half of "Themes & Threats." But how do we add to the other half of the equation? What if I want more threats in the story? Is that just one of those "talk it out with the table" issues?

Thanks in advance!

-EF

[devonapple]

However, I'm not seeing anything on "demoting a theme." Sure, themes can be lessened, inverted, or get worse...but nothing about changing a theme to a threat so that it can be resolved.

Inverting a Theme *is* resolving it. Themes are supposed to reflect larger trends and/or organizations, whereas Threats generally have a small group of opposition who - if they all suddenly disappeared - would mean the Threat goes away as well.

So a Theme like "Mafia Town" can be eventually whittled down to something like "The Mafia Abides," or inverted to "Crime Doesn't Pay Here." "Mafia Town" in particular can be twisted into something which can be "beaten." Plenty of other Themes wouldn't be so easy to demote to Threats.

If you call it "Gametti's Got Plans for This Town," that sounds more like a Threat, and removing Gametti and his organization will eliminate the Threat.

Ultimately, Threats reflect schemes which the players need to address or they have lasting repercussions, whereas Themes are long-term opportunities for improvement.

Second, we know that you can promote a threat to a theme, adding to the Theme half of "Themes & Threats." But how do we add to the other half of the equation? What if I want more threats in the story? Is that just one of those "talk it out with the table" issues?

Choose two Threats and a Theme, then. Or three Threats. But once a Threat is removed, it is generally replaced by a new Threat.