Sorry I'm late to the party. I was at a game convention all weekend.
Carl: Thanks for the review! I greatly appreciate it.
My only nit to pick: Saying that the Thought Balloon has "no mechanical value" is a bit of an oversimplification.
When a player wants more cards, and chooses to increase the Suffering of an Aspect in order to get them, he needs to do more than just move the marker on his sheet and grab the cards from the deck. He needs to role-play that Suffering. In
With Great Power... terms, he has to describe what the reader of the imaginary comic book sees on the page that lets him know that the Aspect has come under more stress.
When the Aspect is a Conviction (something the hero believes to be true), that role-play can get a bit tricky.
Without the Thought Balloon, that role-play is usually a flat statement like "My hero is wracked by self-doubt." If the player has a smattering of acting talent, it might include some facial expressions.
With the Thought Balloon, the player can actually say what the character is thinking, so the role-play becomes much more vibrant.
While it doesn't affect the cards directly, the Thought Balloon allows more space for role-playing around the cards. It also works great when a hero is in his secret identity.
Anyone with questions on the game can post them here or head over to
the Incarnadine Press forums
David: I don't currently have a fully written-out example of play available at the moment. You're right that it would be helpful. I'm currently working on prepping the PDF version of the game, and on-line promotional materials is on my to-do list after that.
With Great Power... often requires the players and the GM to look at the story with an author's eye, thinking about the comic as a whole rather than solely what their specific character wants. Looking at the numerous games listed in your .sig, I'm not sure that the game is a good fit for you. While I certainly welcome you to try it, my intuition says that Chad Underkoffler's
Truth and Justice might be a better match. Thanks for checking out the website, though!