How to ensure Limelight is dramatic and challenging

If you've spent some time with Limelight, it's (hopefully!) evident that a character with a very high Loyal stat gets certain advantages. For example, since this means they are more loyal to the band, the member has a better chance of helping someone when they collaborate with them on a task (and are more like to thwart a task with undermine). Additionally, if you watched us play session 2 of Limelight on Third Floor Wars, you've seen that once a character has managed to acquire a d4 loyalty die, the chances of making successful performance rolls goes up significantly. 

This does not mean, however, that the game will instantly be much easier to win. There are a number of rules and mechanics that should be followed to ensure that play is always dramatic and challenging.

The most important thing to remember is that the Booking Agent (BA/GM) has to constantly task the players' characters via hard choices. Make them decide between the band or their personal life, the outcome of which will threaten and weaken their loyalty. Being in a band is hard: don't let them forget that!

To weaken their loyalty, attack it both fictionally (via the BA changes of introducing uncomfortable situations, offscreen problems, and future problems). and mechanically. For the latter, one of the most important BA changes is, "Change their character’s Loyal." Judicious use of this game action will ensure a) their Loyal stat (and corresponding loyalty die) does not always remain high, and b) if the player wants it to remain high, they will need to mark an obligation. Marking obligations, by design, fictionally introduces and escalates drama of game issues that the members must deal with by first being challenged by them, then setting scenes to clear and resolve them.

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